I have just entered the site, and I will write a lot more, but just wanted to start with a little tribute to my Grandma, a veteran of World War II from the Russian side. This thread is also intended for everyone to share their stories of their relatives who fought in World War II. Not too many people at the West talk about the Russian contribution to the victory in the most atrocious war of the humankind. Less so we remember women. And, even less than that, we tend to talk about hospital ships actually fighting. Who would imagine such units as hospital ships fighting, anyway? Well, they did because the Nazi forces had no mercy on anyone. My Grandma, Irene Golovanova, served as a telephone operator on one of those ships in the Arctic Fleet. Russians had to put weapons on such ships. There were three of those. Irene stood the ground with the crew of one ship, two others got sunk. Later on, my Grandma regarded 1943 as "jolly days" in one of her wartime pictures. Please, share some of your stories. As we go, I'll contribute even more on my side.
