A memorial plaque in honor of Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Laskunov was unveiled at a secondary school in the Shumilino district
The solemn event was attended by the Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies Vladimir Terentyev. He noted that the native of Shumilino died when fascism was defeated by the Soviet Union, and the country, fulfilling its allied obligations, was fighting the Japanese in the Far East. The deputy chief of the operational department of the 15th Army performed his feat on August 11, 1945. Lieutenant Colonel Laskunov was tasked with delivering a combat order to the unit fighting for the Chinese city of Fujin. During landing, the communication aircraft was shot down, and Nikolai Alekseevich was seriously wounded. However, bleeding profusely, he managed to reach the division headquarters and, along with the order, convey additional information to the unit commander, which facilitated the task of capturing the Fujin enemy stronghold. Nikolai Laskunov died the same day from his wounds and was buried in China.
The hero's grandnephew, Viktor Babichev, admitted that he had been proud of his relative since his youth and thanked everyone involved in preserving his memory.
The memorial plaque was installed with the support of the Vitebsk Regional Branch of the Belarusian Peace Foundation.
The Chairperson of the Board of the Vitebsk Regional Branch of the Belarusian Peace Foundation, Tatyana Tumanova, noted the extensive local history work of the school's students and teachers and reminded that historical memory cultivates positive qualities in a person, helping them to work fruitfully for the benefit of our country.
Vladimir Terentyev met with senior students of Nikitikhinskaya Secondary School as part of the dialogue platform "Historical Memory – The Connection of Times and Generations". Making a brief excursion into history, the head of the Vitebsk region's deputy corps recalled that the origins of Belarusian statehood began more than a thousand years ago in Polotsk. Belarus exists within its modern borders thanks to the events of 1939, when its eastern and western parts were reunited. Vladimir Terentyev urged young people to be interested in their family history and to gather as much information as possible from their grandmothers, grandfathers, and parents. Because every family has someone and something to be proud of.
