9 May Celebration

The 9th of May is a controversial Holiday here in Moldova. It is celebrated as "Victory Day" by the large Russian population that reside here. It is looked upon by some Moldovan's as "Occupation Day", because it is the day that the Soviet Union defeated the German's that occupied Moldova up to 9 May 1944. The Soviet Union then occupied Moldova up until 1992, when the Republic of Moldova gained it's independence. It is, as you know, still a communist government with close ties to Russia.
It was a very large celebration that we enjoyed seeing. You will see in my slide show that thousand's of people came to the Memorial Park (where an earlier blog showed the changing of the guard) to lay flowers on graves of fallen soldiers including "The Tomb of an Unknown Soldier". The photo's are primarily of veterans of the Soviet Union Armed forces. When we first arrived there was allot of "pomp" going on and we were not allowed in the park, only dignitaries were allowed in. The street was lined with Embassy Vehicles, all with their country's flag on the fender. We did see the US Ambassador's car there. After all the dignitaries left they opened the park to the public. It was a beautiful Spring day so we enjoyed just being out and walking.