Yesterday's blog, I posted a slide show of photos given to me by Paul Willis, who served in Abadan and Teheran, Iran with the 18th Depot Repair Squadron. The 18th was strategically placed in the Middle East to build and prepare American manufactured aircraft, such as the P-39 Air Cobra, for Russian use against the Germans along the Eastern front of the war.
The Eastern Front has always fascinated me, because a large majority of the entire world war was fought and won on Russian and East German soil. Millions of lives were lost. The Battle for Stalingrad, for example, was extraordinary in comparison to most battles fought during 1941 and 1945. Various estimates exist on the number of men and women killed during the battle --- most of these stats exceed ONE MILLION people.
Even though I will probably never make it to the city of Volgograd (what they call Stalingrad today), I have always wanted to see Mamayev Kurgan, (photo above) the breath taking monument erected to memorialize those who died defending the city, as well as to celebrate a significant turning point during the war. In my opinion, it is BY FAR, the most breath taking and significant monument erected to celebrate and memorialize human loss during World War II. It is absolutely enormous and includes an eternal flame guarded 24 hours by Russian honor guards, a number of statues and symbolic displays, including the massive sword wielding Mamayev figure at the top of the mountain. It must be unbelievable in person.
I would like to think that Clarksburg Ohio residents Scott Dinkler and Paul Willis helped assemble an American made -- Russian piloted P-39, A-20, or B-26 while in Iran, and that aircraft flew over Stalingrad to help defend the city from the Germans. Odds are it happened. Clarksburg men were in position to have an impact on nearly every portion of WWII.
Visit the website for more pictures of this moving monument. Vic Cleary
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