NEWSWATCH: “One of Russia’s biggest holidays is a WWII anniversary Americans don’t think about” – Washington Post
Ask any Russian about their family’s World War II experiences and the answer, almost invariably, is one of suffering and battlefield service. * * * Russian President Vladimir Putin revived the Soviet-style tank parade in 2008, seeing the day as a way to rally citizens around the flag. But despite the hundreds of missile launchers, warplanes and antiaircraft guns that roll through Red Square every year, many Russians say that the true meaning of the holiday is more personal, 71 years after the end of the war.