V-day vs W-day

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Seems to me that there were spots in Kiev that sell (among other stuff) medals that were not military or party related. Some Olympic commemoratives and so forth. Not nearly as interesting though. Fortunately Vika doesn't care much about ex-Communist #######.

Alla, being a dedicated capitalist who would prefer a commission job any day over a salary, (she even wrangled payment for translation and interpretation services by commission when she was in Ukraine) couldn't care less that it is communist stuff or not. The people who fought in the "2nd war" are heroes. Both her grandfatehr's were killed in the 2nd war. She thinks people that sell military medals someone else got are basically tapeworms. There are a lot of non-military Soviet pins and medals that she wouldn;t have a problem with but the military stuff brings a lot more money. (I am a capitalist too!)

[AKguy 1]

Bring back a truck load of medals/pins and such and make a boat load of money you say?

I think I might have to look into this!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

When I told my wife how much the pin was at the gun show ($20) she and her friend immediately started cooking up your very plan, Gary. When I told them he wanted $35 for it but I talked him down, they almost started booking flights right then and there. "We can make lotta money from zis deal if we bring back whis us next time many, many stuff like zis. We can buy in Russia for so cheap and sell here at your gun show for lots of money. And it's all cash!"

Needless to say my wife and her friends aren't of the age where the "pride of the Soviet Union" is still inside them. Much to the contrary, actually. While I can understand where Alla's coming from have you made the connection that most of those pins were traded/sold for vodka money so they're not holding too much sentimental value anymore?

I'll never forget the guy on old Arbat trying to sell me a real, authentic Kosmonaut helmet. I think it was the one Sputnik himself wore.

Sputnik himself...such a deal!!!!!!!

Yeah, I got the idea when some guy outside the Odessa Opera stopped me and offered me a whole box full of Russian war medals for the equivilent of $10!!! (it was just moments before I proposed to Alla) and she kind of let him know she wasn't pleased he was selling other people's "honor" and since I planned to walk her over to the Colonade and ask her to marry me, I shouldn't push the issue just right then and there. I checked it out on eBay and those things go for $35-400 depending on the medal of course. I would think for less $50 one could cover a trip to Russia or Ukraine for two people at least. She still catches me looking at the medals at outdoor markets and just walks by and says..."don't do it!" LOL

Back when I used to smoke, I always tried to "import" enough of those 80 cents/pack Ukrainian Marlboros to cover me until the next trip and figured the savings usually paid for my ticket. Now I quit smoking. I told Alla now we cannot afford to go to Ukraine anymore because I can't save enough on cigarettes to pay for the plane tickets. She actually kept the cigarettes in her closet and "sold" them to me for $60 per carton, the going rate for cigs here, and she checked it out, that is the Costco price. (she didn't even give the break for the 80 cents I paid to begin with so I lost my initial investment, and you wonder if she is a capitalist) and that money went into our vacation fund.

Now that I quit, she asked about the money and I told her I no longer save that money so we can't go.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Bring back a truck load of medals/pins and such and make a boat load of money you say?

I think I might have to look into this!

Yeah, any little outdoor market or even the little artists markets and such always have a table or two or three of people selling former Red Army/Communist medals, pins awards, uniforms, etc. I have seen Russian bayonets (bayonets for the PPsH bring far more here than the ones for the Moisin Nagant rifles, which are everywhere) helmets, uniform pieces, holsters, etc. You know, all the militaria stuff, not to mention pamphlets, weapon instruction manuals, canteens, knives, blah, blah, blah. It is usually sold very cheap compared to what it goes for at gun shows here, and eBay seems to bring higher prices than gun shows (bigger audience I guess) You can pack a lot of it into a suitcase

[AKguy 1]

I'll already be bringing home a large assortment of suitcases with me in around 4 months, what's one more!

[slim 1,525]

You really can sell those trinkets for big bucks at gun shows or on E-Bay. I can't believe people pay that much money for stuff that's just going to sit in a box somewhere.

[baron555 934]

I'll already be bringing home a large assortment of suitcases with me in around 4 months, what's one more!

I'll be going over in July and will also bring an extra suitcase.

As an aside to Alla, very many of the folks who "collect" other people's military honor are very much in awe over it and truly understand the sacrafice. And if they know the story, that is also relayed to all who are interested. Gary you know what I am talking about, being a mil-surp collector myself.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I'll be going over in July and will also bring an extra suitcase.

As an aside to Alla, very many of the folks who "collect" other people's military honor are very much in awe over it and truly understand the sacrafice. And if they know the story, that is also relayed to all who are interested. Gary you know what I am talking about, being a mil-surp collector myself.

I agree Phil. Alla is just kind of unreasonable about this. I told her my dad had a footlocker full of Nazi stuff when I was a kid and sold it off over the years for what he thought (then) was a lot of money, now it would be worth 10 times that. She wasn't impressed...facists have no honor and she couldn't care less if I convert nazi stuff into cash (and spit or p1ss on it first for that matter) but Soviet tokens of the Great Patriotic War ought not be for sale (in her opinion) but she was strongly influenced by two Babushkas who lost their men in the war and a mother that ate grass, among other homegrown delicacies, immediately after. Go figure. I doubt she would care about non-military medals, but those don't bring as much money. Who wants a teenager's Komsomol good conduct Lenin pin? She doesn't even care about bayonets, helmets, canteens, yada yada. Maybe I can talk her out of it before our next trip. I doubt it. I wish I could score on some Tokarev pistols and manage to import them, but that would require connnections I do not have. That's above my pay grade, as they say.

[Martyshk 137]

I agree Phil. Alla is just kind of unreasonable about this. I told her my dad had a footlocker full of Nazi stuff when I was a kid and sold it off over the years for what he thought (then) was a lot of money, now it would be worth 10 times that. She wasn't impressed...facists have no honor and she couldn't care less if I convert nazi stuff into cash (and spit or p1ss on it first for that matter) but Soviet tokens of the Great Patriotic War ought not be for sale (in her opinion) but she was strongly influenced by two Babushkas who lost their men in the war and a mother that ate grass, among other homegrown delicacies, immediately after. Go figure. I doubt she would care about non-military medals, but those don't bring as much money. Who wants a teenager's Komsomol good conduct Lenin pin? She doesn't even care about bayonets, helmets, canteens, yada yada. Maybe I can talk her out of it before our next trip. I doubt it. I wish I could score on some Tokarev pistols and manage to import them, but that would require connnections I do not have. That's above my pay grade, as they say.

Gary, I'm going to have to agree with Alla about the Great Patriotic War.

It's something for us, that cannot be compared to anything else in U.S. history, I guess. Every family lost someone. EVERY family. One of my grandfathers made it, another one didn't.

I still have my grandfather's "Defense of Stalingrad" medal. My douchebag cousin stole the rest and sold it off, and I joke you not, until this day my father refuses to speak to him

Among those medals was the one for the "Courage" (that's the best way I can put). It was given to every soldier who survived three hand-to-hand combat attacks. Which was, as you might know, quite a rarity in WWII, to survive that.

So yes, for us these things hold the value greater than money. (I know this is not what you were implying, I'm just saying)

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Gary, I'm going to have to agree with Alla about the Great Patriotic War.

It's something for us, that cannot be compared to anything else in U.S. history, I guess. Every family lost someone. EVERY family. One of my grandfathers made it, another one didn't.

I still have my grandfather's "Defense of Stalingrad" medal. My douchebag cousin stole the rest and sold it off, and I joke you not, until this day my father refuses to speak to him

Among those medals was the one for the "Courage" (that's the best way I can put). It was given to every soldier who survived three hand-to-hand combat attacks. Which was, as you might know, quite a rarity in WWII, to survive that.

So yes, for us these things hold the value greater than money. (I know this is not what you were implying, I'm just saying)

Mart, I respect her feelings and you won't find a more respectful guy than me (that isn't a Ukrainian) regarding the country's history. My mind doesn't always work that way without a little prodding on her part...but we don't have any plaques in our city parks like they have in Donetsk, our Opera house wasn't bombed 44 times, our cities weren't beseiged for 700 days. My MIL is happy and thinks Alla is secure because we live on a lake and can catch fish and we have lots of grass to eat. "You know, you can make a pretty tasty salad from grass" she says. My mother would never think along the same lines.

And yes, I have yet to meet a Ukrainian who didn't lose a family member in that war, and often as not it was not a soldier. I have been to Stalingrad (Volgograd) and wish it was in better condition, economically and infrastructure wise as other big cities in Russia. Seems the "sun doesn't shine" there so much, but it is a big, heavily industrial city and Donetsk is no tourist paradise either. But I was impressed with the history of the war there. I knew of it, but to actually go there and be in that place. Very interesting, very sobering. Your Grandfather certainly has my respect. But it was also many other cities, Sevastapol, Odessa, Kiev, Kharkov, even Donetsk (Stalino at that time) were beseiged and the people... Despite all the history books say about "Russia", the facists had to go through Belarus and Ukraine...TWICE......to get in and out of Russia.

Hey, I have my father's M1911 pistol he carried in the war and it is not for sale.

[Martyshk 137]

Mart, I respect her feelings and you won't find a more respectful guy than me (that isn't a Ukrainian) regarding the country's history. My mind doesn't always work that way without a little prodding on her part...but we don't have any plaques in our city parks like they have in Donetsk, our Opera house wasn't bombed 44 times, our cities weren't beseiged for 700 days. My MIL is happy and thinks Alla is secure because we live on a lake and can catch fish and we have lots of grass to eat. "You know, you can make a pretty tasty salad from grass" she says. My mother would never think along the same lines.

And yes, I have yet to meet a Ukrainian who didn't lose a family member in that war, and often as not it was not a soldier. I have been to Stalingrad (Volgograd) and wish it was in better condition, economically and infrastructure wise as other big cities in Russia. Seems the "sun doesn't shine" there so much, but it is a big, heavily industrial city and Donetsk is no tourist paradise either. But I was impressed with the history of the war there. I knew of it, but to actually go there and be in that place. Very interesting, very sobering. Your Grandfather certainly has my respect. But it was also many other cities, Sevastapol, Odessa, Kiev, Kharkov, even Donetsk (Stalino at that time) were beseiged and the people... Despite all the history books say about "Russia", the facists had to go through Belarus and Ukraine...TWICE......to get in and out of Russia.

Hey, I have my father's M1911 pistol he carried in the war and it is not for sale.

Yeah, the plaques on buildings... I remember that well. Every building in Simferopol was wired to explode when Nazi's were retreating. Most did, some didn't. Fun stuff, as always with the WWII.

Battles in Crimea, Sevastopol especially was something else. Just like the Leningrad blockade.

And yes, you are right, Ukraine and Belarus got it pretty damn awful during '41-'45.

But yeah, let's leave it at that. I'm just glad people still remember the history, that's all.

[visaveteran 1]

Utah Beach, The Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima. I don't remember any of those battles requiring comrades staying behind to shoot anyone who retreated. Stalingrad was Hitler's stupidity and his utter hatred for communists lead him to defeat. He could have easily avoided that battle and taken Russia.

Russia would have fallen without US supplies. A piece of history I doubt the Russians celebrate.

[Martyshk 137]

Utah Beach, The Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima. I don't remember any of those battles requiring comrades staying behind to shoot anyone who retreated. Stalingrad was Hitler's stupidity and his utter hatred for communists lead him to defeat. He could have easily avoided that battle and taken Russia.

Russia would have fallen without US supplies. A piece of history I doubt the Russians celebrate.

Spewing that bile again, are we? Everyone knows quite well U.S. supplied Soviet Union during the war, no need to celebrate that.

It's a typical American way of looking at things, i.e.: greatest nation on earth, without us the world would perish, etc.

And no, all of those described come nothing compared to having your hometowns and cities burnt to the ground. Your wives raped in front of your children and murdered.

Bismark wrote: "never go to war with Russia" and he was right. You will never understand the mentality of those people, and it's hard, U.S. is a totally different animal.

I'm not even arguing with you here, because you have your McCarthyist point of view and nothing will change that.

I'm glad it works out for you, just like calling everything they don't like Satan's abomination works for religious fanatics.

[Martyshk 137]

Utah Beach, The Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima. I don't remember any of those battles requiring comrades staying behind to shoot anyone who retreated. Stalingrad was Hitler's stupidity and his utter hatred for communists lead him to defeat. He could have easily avoided that battle and taken Russia.

Russia would have fallen without US supplies. A piece of history I doubt the Russians celebrate.

Oh and I also understand that the fall of the whole Eurasia continent to Nazi's is your wet dream. Wonder how long it would've taken Hitler to get across the pond to finish the job...hm...

oh wait, riiiiiiiiiight, U.S. is untouchable, I forgot!

[Nasturtium 500]

Oh and I also understand that the fall of the whole Eurasia continent to Nazi's is your wet dream. Wonder how long it would've taken Hitler to get across the pond to finish the job...hm...

oh wait, riiiiiiiiiight, U.S. is untouchable, I forgot!

Edited February 20, 2010 by julianna