Veteran Hrach Avagyan to open German cognac brought from Berlin on his 100th anniversary

GYUMRI, MAY 9, ARMENPRESS: Currently there are 94 war participant veterans in Gyumri. The 91-year-old Hrach Avagyan is one of those unique veterans, who reached Berlin. As he reported to the Armenpress correspondent, telling about his glorious military past, “My military way began in Beslan and then continued to Berlin. I danced kochari in Berlin and upon the arrival to my motherland I brought three bottles of German cognac and a bottle of wine from Berlin. One of the cognacs was opened on my wedding, the other bottle was opened on my 80th anniversary and the third one I left to open on my 100th anniversary. The wine is still kept”, - said the war veteran.

The youngest participant of the Great Patriotic War, living inArmenia, is 87 and the eldest is 100. By April 1 2013 the number of the veterans inArmeniahas been 1850. If the 65thanniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War was celebrated with 3500 veterans, now their number is only 1850. According to the statistics, 30-45 veterans pass away every month.

There are 50 veteran organizations functioning inArmenia, 11 of which are inYerevan. According to official data, 600,000 Armenians, not only from the Soviet Armenia, but also from different countries of the CIS and Diaspora, took part in the Great Patriotic War, 200-250,000 of which fell with hero’s death.