The remains of the defenders of the Hero City were reburied in Sevastopol

On May 3, at the Memorial Cemetery of the Great Patriotic War in the village of Dergachi, the reburial of Soviet soldiers who died during the defense and liberation of Sevastopol took place.

The solemn ceremony was attended by: Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly Vladimir Nemtsev, Senators of the Federation Council Ekaterina Altabaeva and Sergei Kolbin, State Duma Deputy Tatyana Lobach, Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet for military-political work Vyacheslav Vitold, Dean of the Sevastopol District Sergei Khalyuta, Chairman of the Sevastopol association of search organizations “Dolg” Marina Gavrilenko, military personnel of the Black Sea Fleet, representatives of public organizations, veterans.

Mikhail Razvozhaev thanked the search teams for their difficult and noble work.

Special words of gratitude today to Marina Nikolaevna Gavrilenko and everyone who works in the search teams. Every year, specialists and search engines from many regions of our country come to us to take part in the next watch. And we see what a great job they are doing. Today we are seeing off 261 soldiers on their last journey. The names of eight of them were identified. It is difficult to imagine the feelings that the families of our soldiers experience when they learn that their heroes are not missing, that they were found decades later. A completely unique story is the fate of our pilot, attack aircraft, Lieutenant Konstantin Georgievich Danilin, who was found during last year’s expedition on Sapun Mountain. His plane, which had already lost control, landed clearly on a German mortar battery. Such feats that we achieve today indicate that our people are invincible. And today, the soldiers who defend their Motherland on the front line are the successors of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. This is especially acutely felt here in Sevastopol, and Victory will definitely be ours, – the press service of the Government of Sevastopol quotes Mikhail Razvozhaev.

Vladimir Nemtsev emphasized that preserving the memory of the fallen soldiers remains a common task for the residents of Sevastopol.

All the soldiers who did not return from the battlefield will forever remain for us an example of courage, perseverance, bravery, and true patriotism. For us they are all heroes. And, of course, our common task is to preserve the memory of them and pass this memory on to subsequent generations. Unfortunately, we cannot always name the hero’s name. Although the feat of each of them is immortal. I thank all participants in the search movement for continuing to carry out your difficult, noble watch, year after year, carrying out great, painstaking, complex work to search for and bury the defenders and liberators of our Hero City. And I am sure this work will continue until the last soldier of that war finds peaceemphasizes Vladimir Nemtsev.

Search teams were able to identify the names of eight dead soldiers:

— Viktor Stepanovich Danilin, Red Navy man, identified by the inscription on his comb;

— Pyotr Fedotovich Novak, corporal;

— Vasily Kot, the name is established by the inscription on the spoon;

— S.V. Kurakov, the name is established from the inscription on the flask;

— A.K. Ermakov, a Red Army soldier, identified by the inscription on the spoon;

— Luka Iosifovich Serebryansky, Red Army soldier of the 25th Chapaev Division, identified by the insert of a soldier’s medallion;

— Konstantin Georgievich Danilin, junior lieutenant, name identified by aircraft tail number;

— Basisty Anatoly Ivanovich, border guard, identified by the inscription on the spoon.

The reburial ceremony was attended by the grandson of Anatoly Basisty, a doctor of the highest category, surgeon Oleg Khabarov. The remains of a border guard soldier were discovered in 2020 on the combat lines of the Mius Front by searchers of the Rostov regional public search and patriotic organization “Last Traces of War”, after which they were transferred for burial in Sevastopol soil. The warrior’s personal belongings, discovered by search engines, were solemnly handed over to his heirs.

Marina Gavrilenko emphasized: the opportunity to establish the identities of at least several soldiers, and even more so to find their families, is a big victory for everyone involved in search activities.

The reburial of the defenders of Sevastopol takes place once a year, before Victory Day, and this is always a solemn and important event. Today a whole company rose from the ground to rest here in the memorial cemetery. And the work of the search engines continues. More and more guys are joining the ranks of the units. This is hard work, both physically and mentally. After all, no matter how hard we try, no matter what efforts we make, no matter what archives we pull up, it is not possible to establish the names of all those who died for Sevastopol. Today we only recognized a few of them — but this is a huge victory for usnotes Marina Gavrilenko.

The Sevastopol association of search organizations “Dolg” was created in 1991. Its members are searching for the remains of Soviet military personnel who went missing on the borders of Sevastopol during the period of defense and liberation of the city from fascist invaders. Using found medallions, notes, and inscriptions on personal belongings, search engines determine the names of soldiers who gave their lives on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War.

source: press service of the Government of Sevastopol