During the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory, two front-line soldiers from Tuva were in Moscow – Vera Chuldumovna Bailak and Antonina Yakovlevna Frolova. They used the opportunity, provided by the President of Russia, of a free transportation. Both participants of the Great Patriotic War met at the Tuva embassy. They are of the same age. “I am older, - jokes Antonina Yakovlevna. – I was born in July, and you in December.” They laugh.
Vera Chuldumovna Bailak, together with 3000 front-line soldiers from Russia and other countries, participated in the Victory Parade. Antonina Yakovlevna took part in the celebrations at Poklonnaya Gora and in Gorkyi Park.
The front-line soldier saw the Tuvan exhibition at the memorial complex at Poklonnaya Gora, which has already been visited by hundreds of people from all the various corners of Russia. People from Vologodchina, Cherepovets, and Tyumen wrote notes of gratitude to the people of Tuva in the Book of Visitors.
Antonina Frolova served at the military aerodromes. Since the war years, she keeps the memories of bombardments which literally followed them around. In one of these, she incurred a concussion which left her hard of hearing. For her, the war ended in 1946 in Poland. This is where she met pilot Vasily Frolov, and then went to Tuva with him.
“As a resident of Tuva, I am very proud of that massive help that our Tuvan people showed to the front.”, - the front-line soldier wrote in the Book of Visitors.