The monument to the Unknown Soldier was restored in Butuchany

A monument to the Unknown Soldier and the woman who found his body was restored at the rural cemetery at the request of village authorities and residents of the village of Butuchany of Rybnitsa district, which was announced in May last year of the meeting of the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic with residents of Rybnitsa district.

Vera Gritskul, that was the name of this woman, who found a young tanker killed in 1944 after the liberation of the village. She buried the nameless soldier in a rural cemetery and cared for the grave all her life. Vera Gritskul asked to be buried nearby in 1972, when she was dying. There have been two burials at the same fencelet at the rural cemetery since then.

Residents of the village have been coming to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier for decades to pay tribute to his feat. There was a cross with a photograph of Vera Gritskul and a concrete tombstone with the inscription at the burial site until recently: “Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the fight against the Nazi invaders for the freedom and independence of our Motherland during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”.

The memorial site was updated, the unusual history was immortalized after the appeal of the villagers and on the instructions of the PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky.

The grand opening of the updated monument to the Unknown Soldier and village resident Vera Gritskul took place on May 8. It was attended by the Head of the district state administration Viktor Tyagai, deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Deputies Oleg Vendichansky, residents and guests of the village.

Another inscription is on the updated monument now: “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal”. The image of a tank on a granite slab indicates that the Unknown Soldier was the tank driver.

The memory of the Unknown Soldier was honored with a minute of silence. Fresh flowers were laid at the monument to Vera Gritskul. She has long been considered an example of kindness and mercy in the village.

Based on materials from the press service of the Rybnitsa State Administration