Text/Fast Wind
The fierce style of the Russians, which has always been independent of the forest of the world, is also regarded by us as a fighting nation. Today, tell a brave story from the 1980s: a Soviet traffic policeman saved 40 American teenagers.
Pankrushev
The story begins with the Soviet-American friendship in the late Soviet Union. At that time, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev advocated good relations with the West, and under his impetus, from 1987 onwards, the Soviet Union and the United States developed a student exchange program, in which high school students from the two countries visited each other and exchanged, which was called the "Friendship Caravan Program" in the Soviet Union.
In 1989, Gorbachev's wife and American teenager were in the Kremlin
In the summer of 1989, a "friendship caravan" full of 300 high school students from various states in the United States hit the road. The journey for American students begins in Moscow, followed by a tour bus visit to several Soviet cities, and ends at The Artek Camp in Crimea. The Soviets attached great importance to this foreign affairs activity and conscientiously did a good job in escorting and security work throughout the process.
Who would have thought that there was a big mistake on August 2.
At that time, American students took 9 tourist buses from the highway in Belgorod to Kursk, and the person in charge of opening the road was a Soviet police car, the traffic policeman Mikhail Pankrushev was responsible for driving, and the other two Kursk police officers were sitting in the car, followed by a bus carrying 40 American teenagers.
American high school students at an exchange event
Suddenly, a ZIL-133 heavy truck traveling at high speed in the opposite lane lost control, deflected in the direction, and crashed straight into the bus full of American students.
Soviet ZIL-133 heavy truck
In the midst of the crowd's exclamation, Pankrushev did not hesitate to turn the steering wheel, turned the police car left and accelerated in front of the truck, with a loud noise, the two cars collided, under the impact of a heavy truck weighing 10 tons, the police car was smashed, and three policemen fell in the compartment covered in blood, but this successfully stopped the truck from moving forward, and none of the American teenagers on the bus were injured.
This hard-core move of "sacrificing oneself to block the hole of the gun" seriously injured three policemen, and Pankrushev himself broke several ribs, but allowed the Soviet Union to avoid an international accident that was defamatory.
The Soviets gave a major tribute to the three policemen, and Pankrushev, who had made a name for himself, was awarded a new apartment, returned to police after recovering from his injuries, and later worked in the traffic police department until his retirement, before dying of a heart attack last November.
Soviet traffic police in propaganda posters
After returning home, the unsettled American delegation quickly told the extraordinary activity to the then US President George W. Bush. The following year, a United States delegation arrived in Moscow and handed Pankrushev a handwritten letter of thanks from Mr. Bush.
Pankrushev accepted Bush's handwritten thank-you note
Bush called this act of Soviet traffic police "extraordinary bravery," writing: "Many Americans have been to the Soviet Union and brought back good memories, but the young students you helped last summer brought back very special memories, you did brave acts beyond the scope of your duties, you took their lives out of danger, and your actions will remain in their hearts forever." ”
In addition to the thank-you note, Bush sent a number of souvenirs, including a autographed portrait and a mantel clock.
Pankrushev accepted the gift
Bush's praise is not exaggerated, and it is true that the "extraordinary bravery" of making a car crash stop in an instant is indeed not something that Westerners can easily do, and this small Soviet traffic policeman has the virtues of the stoic and brave character of the Russians.