Memorial plaques honoring two Heroes of the Soviet Union handed over to Vitebsk

VITEBSK, 19 March (BelTA) - Two memorial plaques in honor of two submariners, natives of Vitebsk Oblast - Hero of the Soviet Union Vice Admiral Egor Tomko and Hero of the Soviet Union Captain First Rank Samuil Bogorada were handed over to Vitebsk by Navy veterans. The ceremony is timed to the Day of Submariners which is celebrated in the Russian Federation on 19 March. Belarusian and Russian Navy veterans celebrate this holiday together and hold a campaign “Homeland of the Navy Heroes” within the framework of the joint social-patriotic project “Marine Brotherhood - Forever!". During the Great Patriotic War nine Baltic Fleet-submariners were conferred the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. One of them was Vitebsk resident Samuel Bogorad, commander of the Щ-310 submarine. Under his command the submarine did three armed campaigns and sunken eight Nazi ships and vessels. Another native of Vitebsk Oblast Egor Tomko passed through all stages of the Navy officers’ service - from Lieutenant to Rear Admiral. For heroism in rescuing the crew and the submarine, which got into an accident in November 1978, Egor Tomko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In February 2012 the memory of the Belarusian submariners was honored in St. Petersburg. Today nearly 200,000 former USSR Navy servicemen live in Belarus. Up to a million of Belarusian nationals served in the Navy from 1925 to 1992. In Belarus there are 26 units of the Belarusian Union of Naval Mariners (over 3,000 members). The Marine Brotherhood Forever project has been initiated by the veteran organizations of the Russian Navy for strengthening friendship between brotherly nations. The organizers of the project in the All-Russian Marines Organization Taifun, Belarus’ Voluntary Association for Assistance to Army, Air Force and Navy, the Belarusian Union of Officers, the Belarusian Fund Afghan’s Memory, the Union of Navy Veterans and Submariners of St. Petersburg.

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