Penza, 9 May 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza region governor Ivan Belozertsev has expressed his gratitude to the citizens of the region who joined the “Immortal Regiment” campaign during the celebrations of the 71st anniversary of the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War (the Eastern Front of the Second World War).

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“I am thankful to all citizens of the Penza region who participated in the ‘Immortal Regiment’ campaign, for sincerely and touchingly remembering the legacy of their relatives and dear ones who fought in the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War for the sake of happiness of the future generations,” said the head of the region.

The people who marched along Pobedy prospekt with the banners bearing photos of their relatives – soldiers and homefront workers – experienced a wave of emotions that is impossible to forget, he added.

“In our march in the Immortal Regiment column, we all together experienced a one-of-a-kind feeling of patriotism and unity, mutual support, strength and invincibility of our nation,” Ivan Belozertsev pointed out.

The governor placed particular emphasis on the importance of keeping the legacy and the truth about the Great Patriotic War preserved between the generations.

“Today, ‘Immortal Regiment’ united different generations of Penza citizens. As long as we are together and remember our heroic ancestors, we will remain a country of victors,” he stressed.

Overall, the “Immortal Regiment” campaign has been supported by 11,000 citizens of the region, the press service of the regional government informed PenzaNews.

The Penza region governor Ivan Belozertsev also joined the “Immortal Regiment” march during the May 9 Victory Day festivities. Together with other people, he marched with the portraits of his relatives Vasily Rodionovich Belozertsev and Ivan Dmitrievich Yefanov, who returned from the warfronts with the Victory.

Moreover, the ancestral tree of the governor has more frontline slodiers. One of his close relatives lost his life in the war, and was buried in a mass grave by Tambov in 1943. Two others, Ivan Belozertsev and Dmitry Belozertsev, 20 and 21, were killed in the Great Patriotic War in 1941 and 1942 respectively.