A memorial plaque in honor of the legendary pilot was unveiled in Moscow

On Tuesday, April 9, the name of another hero of the Fatherland was immortalized in the capital. This time, a memorial plaque was unveiled on the wall of an ordinary Moscow residential building No. 17 on Marshal Vasilevsky Street in honor of the brave attack pilot, participant in the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, legendary guard Colonel Dmitry Vasilyevich Kaprin. The ceremony took place near the house where the hero lived for many years.

This has already become a good tradition – to perpetuate the memory of the heroes of the Fatherland on memorial plaques, in the names of streets, educational institutions, schools of the capital… And thus preserve the memory of those people who accomplished a feat and made a significant contribution to the history of the country. So, last year, 7 memorial plaques dedicated to the Heroes of the Soviet Union appeared on the streets of Moscow. The same honor is now awarded to full holders of the Order of Glory of the city of Moscow and the Moscow region. This became possible thanks to a special program, which was actively supported by the mayor of the capital Sergei Sobyanin. In our city, new monuments are being erected to heroes, monuments and tombstones are being put in order.

As reported by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the city of Moscow, this year 6 memorial plaques dedicated to the Heroes of the Soviet Union will be unveiled on houses in the capital. A plaque dedicated to the Soviet artillery officer, Colonel Alexei Prokhorovich Voloshin will appear on Tverskaya Street; Colonel General of Aviation Alexander Nikolaevich Medvedev on Mosfilmovskaya Street; Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Konstantinovich Palilov on Sirenevy Boulevard; Corporal Nikolai Ivanovich Sechkin on 1st Kuryanovskaya Street and Guard Lieutenant Tatyana Nikolaevna Sumarokova on Miklouho-Maclay Street.

Today, the names of heroes are also heard in the names of capital streets and squares. Already more than 150 streets in Moscow are named in honor of Heroes of Russia and the Soviet Union. Muscovites know that not so long ago Marshal Ustinov Square appeared in the Khoroshevo-Mnevniki area (in honor of the military leader and Minister of Defense of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Fedorovich Ustinov, well known to the generation of Russians of the 20th century). In another district of the capital (Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo) Chkalovsky Boulevard appeared (in honor of the legendary test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Valery Pavlovich Chkalov).

Also in honor of the Heroes of the Soviet Union who accomplished a feat during the Great Patriotic War, the streets of Gastello in the Sokolniki district, Klimashkina in Presnensky, General Belov in Orekhovo-Borisov were named in the capital. Contemporary heroes of Russia have not been forgotten either. In the north of the capital, Pilot Oskanov Street appeared, in the settlement of Filimonkovsky – the street of Hero of Russia Chernyshev, and in the settlement of Mosrentgen – Hero of Russia Solomatin.

Now in the capital, in almost every district there are streets named after the defenders of the Fatherland.

And here is another legendary name and another memorial plaque was unveiled – in house 17 on Marshal Vasilevsky Street. Now – in honor of the legendary attack pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, participant in the Great Patriotic War, Guard Colonel Dmitry Vasilyevich Kaprin. The solemn ceremony on April 9 on this occasion brought together not only the hero’s close relatives, honored guests, friends, colleagues, but also acquaintances, neighbors of the house where the hero lived, and simply residents of the capital’s Shchukino district. The neighbors were surprised that “they had been next to the hero for many years and knew nothing about him. Apparently, he was modest in life.”

Dmitry Vasilyevich Kaprin, without exaggeration, is a legendary personality. Exactly one year before the start of the Second World War, he was drafted into the Red Army and enrolled as a cadet in the Voroshilovgrad Military Aviation Pilot School. And already in 1942, after graduating from pilot school, the 20-year-old young man went straight to the Stalingrad Front, where he received a baptism of fire. And since September 1942, he fought on different fronts: on the Southern, 4th Ukrainian, 1st Baltic, 3rd Belorussian. He liberated Donbass, participated in battles over the Dnieper and for its Nikopol bridgehead, liberated Crimea, Lithuania, participated in battles in East Prussia and for the city of Koenigsberg.

In total, during the war years he made 130 combat missions and inflicted great damage on the enemy. The list of military awards is also impressive. Dmitry Vasilyevich Kaprin received the highest awards of the USSR: Order of Lenin, 4 Orders of the Red Banner, Order of Alexander Nevsky, 2 Orders of the Patriotic War 1st degree, 2 Orders of the Red Star and 2 medals…

And he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union literally a few days before the end of the war (April 19, 1945), awarded by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

And after the war, hero Kaprin continued to serve in the Air Force of our country, trained young pilots, and commanded a helicopter regiment in the Saratov region. In 1964, a medal for the development of virgin lands was added to the military orders and medals of the colonel.

Worthy name! Let everyone know about this.

Fate favored the hero – he lived a great life – until November 17, 2015, he died at the age of 94. He was buried at the Vvedensky cemetery.

The memorial plaque was opened by the hero’s son and daughter: Andrei Dmitrievich Kaprin and Elena Dmitrievna.

“For me, this memorial plaque is a symbol of great memory and love. Such memory boards are very important and necessary for us, because we are raising a generation of people who must respond to that call, no matter what our Motherland and Fatherland give,” said the son of the hero Dmitry Kaprin – Andrey Kaprin, a well-known chief oncologist in our country Ministry of Health of Russia, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Education.

…I would like to believe that such perpetuation of the memory of the heroes of the Fatherland will help contemporaries not only learn more about the people who performed heroic deeds in the war, but can also “try on” their qualities personally. Perhaps this will make someone look at those differently. who manages to overcome their fear. In any case, the recent atrocity committed by criminals in Crocus City Hall showed the readiness of contemporaries in extreme situations to think not only about themselves and commit acts on the brink of life and death. Heroes are also needed in peaceful life.