Maybe he meant these Ukrainian "war" heros:
1. John Demjanjuk (b. 1920 in Dubovye Makharintsy, Kiev Oblast, USSR), birth name Iwan Demjanjuk, is a retired auto worker who emigrated to the United States from Europe in 1951. He was later accused of, tried for, convicted, sentenced to death and then exonerated by Israel's highest court of crimes against humanity, based on his being identified by Holocaust survivors in Israel as having been "Ivan the Terrible," a notorious SS guard at the Treblinka extermination camp during the period 1942-1943 who allegedly committed acts of extraordinarily savage violence against camp prisoners.
2. (Marshal) Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was a Soviet hero military aviator of Ukrainian descent. He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on three occasions (February 4, 1944; August 19, 1944; August 18, 1945).
That's right - the SAME Kozhedub who COMMANDED Soviet MiG-15 fighter pilots who SHOT DOWN AMERICAN PILOTS IN THE KOREAN WAR. Do the math - Ukrainian General (frankly, I prefer calling him a Soviet, but I'll play the spanalot ethnic game for a couple of minutes) responsible for the DEATHS of American pilots.
3. Andrej Melnik: Melnyk founded the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in 1922. Between 1924 and 1928 Melnyk was imprisoned for alleged terrorist activities by the Polish government. In the 1930s Melnyk re-organized OUN as an undeground organization, adopted ideology of Benito Mussolini's fascism and created an armed wing responsible for a number of terrorist acts.
And strangely, just like Bandera settled in Germany after the war... Oh, almost forgot, he too was imprisoned by the Nazis so I guess that makes him a hero.
4. The Ukrianians at Babi Yar: Babi Yar is a ravine at the outskirts of Kiev. On September 29 - 30, 1941, more than 30,000 Jews were killed by machine gun at the hands of an SS mobile killing unit and Ukrainian volunteers. The ravine continued to be used for the execution of civilians and of Russian prisoners of war. At the end of the German occupation, Babi Yar had become a mass grave for over 100,000 people.
5. Volodymyr Kubiyovych was a Ukrainian politician, statesman and historian. He was one of the leaders of Ukrainian nationalist movement in Galicia before and during World War II. As such, Kubiyovych has been the main proponent of the cooperation between Ukrainian organizations and Nazi Germany aimed to the establishing of an independent Ukrainian state. After the war, he became one of the leading politicians and scholars of Ukrainian diaspora in the West.
And of course, it's no surprise that there is such a strong nationalistic movement in the Ukrainian diaspora - some might say it makes them disloyal to their adopted country.
6.Ukrianians in the Vietnam War fought against the US (source: Vietnam Veterans of America):
"KOVVW is the only Vietnam veterans organization in the former Soviet Union, Serdyuk explained. The organization came about because Kharkiv is home to a military air defense engineering academy (now called the Kharkiv University of Air Forces), large military air defense forces, military and civilian facilities, and universities. All, Serdyuk noted, had served in Vietnam some time during 1965-75, and had advised or assisted the Vietnamese with air defense matters. Many settled in the area and are still involved in the university. Today, most of the members are over 70 years of age."
"Serdyuk invited his fellow veterans to share their memories: “Amongst our ranks we have generals, officers, and enlisted men. We gave aid to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in their struggle for independence. Just as you have established relationships with the Vietnamese, we have established and maintain a relationship with the Vietnamese Embassy in Kiev. The Vietnamese have expressed their appreciation for what we have done for them. I would like to appeal to you for joint memoirs.”
Retired Gen. Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakoryukin was the first to offer his recollections: “I am very glad we are meeting today,” he said. “I only saw Americans from the bottom up, from the ground looking up.
“The Soviet specialists were also great patriots. The civilian population [of Vietnam] didn’t have anything to protect them. As friends of that country—we were professors and teachers—we helped them use our technology, and they used it against you. “War is war,” Zakoryukin said. “As veterans, we all acknowledge that we did our duty. It is very pleasant to be with one another. People of our age live basically in our memories—the memories of all the good things we have done.”
Professor Nikolay Shershnev is a veteran of the Vietnam War and professor at the University of Air Forces, Ukraine Ministry of Defense. In July 2005, Shershnev was asked by the commander of the university to review libraries and faculty holdings for information regarding American losses in Vietnam. Currently he teaches students from Myanmar in the use of the old Soviet anti-aircraft missile system. Shershnev was accompanied by his teaching assistant, who is fluent in English. "
"Shershnev yielded the floor to Yuri S. Salumatin:
“Next year it will be forty years since we returned,” he said. “I only saw the Americans on the radar screen. But one time we did see a POW. On August 1, 1966, we had shot down many Americans. He was a lieutenant colonel. He was trying to get back to the airport in Thailand. This was about midnight. His captors were carrying burning torches. My friend and I were out walking. What is that? That is a pilot. Let’s go look at him. He had short hair. We were two meters from him. He was wearing only his underwear. He was tied in ropes, and there were bindings on his shoulders. There was a stopped car. It was not a pretty picture."
Oh, wait, these guys are Ukrainians, they surely couldn't be responsible for the deaths of American airmen in N. Vietnam?!?!
Like I said before - I'd prefer to call them SOVIET and the Soviets were our enemy and we defeated them. Unfortunately, a misguided member of the nationalistic Ukrainian diaspora prefers to play the ethnicity game and deny or deflect any evidence showing their complicity in WWII deaths, Korean War deaths, and Vietnam War deaths.
Instead of calling AMERICAN veterans "traitors" he should be apologizing to them for the invovlement of his countrymen (Ukrainians) in the wars they fought against us.
I wont pretend to know the names and aprticulars attached to certain individuals and their acivities. Reality is that I don't need to. It is a historical fact, backed up by eyewitness testimony, investigate documents, personal accounts, official records (form both sides), etc, that there were Ukranians who fought for the Germans.
There were also French, British, Norweigians, Finns, Hungarians, Poles, Greeks, Spaniards, Dutch, Estonians, Danes, Belgians, South Africans, Arabs, Yugoslavians, Turks, Americans, and even Sub-Continent Indians, who fought for the Germans as well. The Germans had a habit of collecting pro-Nazi Allied nationals or Allied-allied nationals into units known as "Freikorps" (Free Corps), and attaching them to the SS.
That he pretends otherwise does not change the fact.
It is a common thing in the former Soviet Union amongst the older generation to claim that while they exhibited all the patriotic fervor and love of Stalin that was required during the "Great Patriotic War", they really didn't mean it, and only NOW whent he Soviet State has been dismembered, can they finally come out and say so. The once-fervent communists are now the most fervent anti-Communists, despite the sweat, tears, blood and emotional energy they invested in the Communist ideals, and no matter how fervently they believed in them.
The enablers, who wanted it with every fibre of their being, are now the victims. How nice and Oprah-fied. This doesn't even muster the same ocnsideration given to the famous German "I was just following orders" defense.
It's all revisionist history, all based on avoiding the guilt and shame (and stupidity) they feel, and about avoiding the wrath of the younger generation (which has nothing thanks to the efforts of their elders), and the former "comrades" they all dutifully reported to the police and who managed to survive the Gulag with memory intact.
Spannie is merely one symptom of the more general disease.
Like I said, if you scratch the Ukrainian Basher, you usually find leftist propaganda worthy of the LA Times.
Did you write the LA Times article that accused Bandera of being a Nazi?
And I see you now choose Demjanjiuk - isnt he the Uke that was set up by a phoney ID card forged by the KGB - wasn't he found not guilty by the Israel Supreme Court?