Russell and Carol - hayle and hearty

Saturday 24th June 2006 - a true hero was honoured on Saturday during a military parade which saw veterans of a number of wars and conflicts muster in the grounds of Trebah Gardens on the banks of the Helford.

Officially it was the annual Trebah Military Day organised by garden founder and owner, Major Tony Hibbert, a veteran of the Arnhem landings during the second world war.

But on this occasion, all eyes were on one woman 84-year-old grandmother Vera Kotliar, who was a code breaker in Stanlingrad, Russia, when the city was under seige from the Germans.

Vera, who now lives in Falmouth, was present on that occasion and witnessed the surrender. As a result of her work in the Russian army as a Guardswoman, she was presented with a number of medals, one of which was the Hero of Stalingrad medal.

Sadly they were lost after the war and on Saturday they were re-presented to her by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Lady May Holborow, in a special ceremony.

Work by Major Hibert and others to try and track the medals ended in success. Three were found. A fourth had to be reminted.

But that did not matter to Vera, who looked proud as she received the medals for the second time. She came to live in Falmouth a few years ago to be near to her daughter Natalia, a Russian language teacher who had married a Cornishman, and her grandson.

Vera was born in Kharkow in the Ukraine and worked as a weather forecaster before the war. She later joined the Aviation Regiment, a section of Marshal Rokossovski's army in Stalingrad. The regiment later became the Guards Regiment.