Russian World War II veterans also deserve our respect

Earlier this month, we observed another meaningful day of respect for our esteemed veterans. As an honor to my father, who served in World War II in the Battle of the Bulge, I recently gave a presentation on Veterans Day to my daughter’s seventh grade classes at Romig Jr. High, along with several other veterans. I want to give high marks to this school for providing this opportunity for its students to understand the sacrifices our veterans have made for our country.

Shortly after this presentation, I was surprised to receive a call from the President of the Alaska Center of Russian American Friendship and Trade inviting me to assist a delegation from the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C., to honor Russian veterans of WWII whose bodies are laid beside our war veterans at the military cemetery at Fort Richardson.

These Russian soldiers died in Alaska during the Lend-Lease program, in which U.S. military planes and ships were being transferred to Russian pilots to take the war to Hitler’s fascist army, which was attacking Russia. These planes, more than 5,000 in total, were flown to Fairbanks and transferred there to Russian pilots. They flew west across the Bering Strait, then on to Krasnoyarsk to fight on the front. In total, more than $11 billion of military supplies was transferred to our ally, Russia, who suffered more than 30 million casualties during the war.

The ceremony at the Fort Richardson cemetery was quite a moving experience. The Russian delegation included Russian historians and even military officers. Each of the 11 Russian WWII veterans are named on the headstones of their graves, which are identical to the headstones of their U.S. compatriots in the cemetery. As the rain fell, each of them was saluted and flowers laid in their honor.

A small sample of the Alaska soil where they are buried was taken and placed in a ceremonial wooden box to be returned to Moscow. It will be included in a memorial monument to be consecrated on May 9, 2020, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi fascism. President Donald Trump has been invited to attend this ceremony and is reportedly considering attending. I do hope he will attend and that he will also honor the contribution that Alaska made to this effort.

In their own way, these Russian soldiers were shoulder to shoulder with my father, Sgt. Marvin Fuhs, who received a Purple Heart and almost didn’t survive his wounds. Like many of our WWII veterans, he has passed on, but I know he would have been proud to honor them as well.

While it is now popular among some people to blame Russia for just about everything, our experiences during WWII are an important reminder of what we can accomplish if we work together. This is especially true for Alaska where we share so many of our common experiences and goals with the people of the Russian Far East.

I want to compliment the officials at the U.S. State Department and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson who facilitated this honoring visitation.

Paul Fuhs is the former mayor of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor and served as Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development for Gov. Wally Hickel.

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