News-Info-Alerts

Re: Russian Farm Delegation Joins MIA Ceremony

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: November 11, 2002

"Russian farm delegation joins in MIA ceremony
FLAG PRESENTED AT FRANKFORT VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL
By Mark Maloney HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

FRANKFORT - Seeking ways to raise better crops also has led 10 Russians and their Kentucky hosts to a better understanding of one another.

Yesterday, friendly foreign relations were in bloom under sunny skies.

The crop farmers' three-week trip to Kentucky was organized by the Division 10 Kiwanis Russian Bluegrass PEP -- Productivity Enhancement Program -- delegation in conjunction with the University of Kentucky.

"We were really impressed by the technology and machinery on the farms," said Aleksey Ledenyov, who grows sweet potatoes, onions and carrots in Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad.

"This is really what Russia should seriously think about. And we were also impressed by the involvement of the government, and the government assistance that the farmers receive."

Ramazan Otreshev, a farmer from Krasno-dar, said that, although the technology and assistance might be new, the crops the farmers have seen aren't. Everything they've seen in Kentucky is grown in Russia, he said "even tobacco. But the production of tobacco in Russia is decreasing."

Yesterday, though, the farmers and their hosts turned their attention to other matters as they visited the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans War Memorial.

Several members of Rolling Thunder, whose mission is to focus attention on prisoner-of-war and missing-in-action issues, joined their newfound Russian friends.

A lone bagpiper played as Vietnam veteran Ron Nettles presented a POW/MIA flag to Bill Clark, a Midway horseman.

Clark, a B-24 tail-gunner in World War II, was rescued by Russians from a German prison camp in Romania.

Clark crossed the shadow of the memorial's sundial -- steps meant to symbolize "a walk across time" from the evening of the past to the morning of the future -- and handed the flag to Otreshev, who genuflected as he accepted.

"It's a right touching thing," Clark said moments later, tears glistening.

"I will do my best to tell people about what I have seen and about the Vietnam veterans' activities here," Otreshev said, with group facilitator Vladimir Lemkov of St. Petersburg translating. "I, on my part, will do my best to make this an eternal symbol. I am planning to put it into our local museum, and we'll have a special place for this."

Dr. David Duncan, a Vietnam-era veteran from Lexington and immediate past president of Kiwanis Club of the Bluegrass, said this will be the first POW/MIA flag displayed in Russia.

C.J. Bays, president of Rolling Thunder's Falmouth-based Chapter Five, said "it's time for the world to join and help each other on this issue. I've talked to the Russians. Their POWs and MIAs are just as important to them as ours are to us. ... It's time to bring them home."

None of the Russians at yesterday's ceremony is a war veteran, Lemkov said. But Otreshev said he "was touched" by the moment.

Ledenyov, whose family was one of the first to become private farmers in the former Soviet Union, said the most important part of his visit has been meeting friendly people.

© 2001 heraldleader "