May 9 is Victory Day

Each May 9 Russia celebrates the victory over Nazi Germany and remembers those who died in WWII. Flowers and wreaths are laid on wartime graves and the war memorials which are found in everywhere. There is a large military parade held on Red Square in Moscow, this year featuring squadrons of fighter jets and state-of-the-art missle systems. Victory Day is a really big deal here. An estimated 8 million Russian soldiers and 26-28 million civilians died during the war. Everybody lost somebody during the war. Novorossiysk, just 40 km from Anapa, is one of the 12 Hero Cities of the Soviet Union. The Nazis laid siege to the city for most of a year and 300,000 people died. Americans, I think, have a hard time relating to that kind of carnage. We haven't had a war on our own soil in 150 years and "only" 620,000 Americans died during our Civil War. God has certainly blessed America with peace at home.