site.btaParatrooper Day Marked by Bulgarian Army
Wreaths and flowers were laid at the Paratrooper Memorial in Sofia to mark Paratrooper Day on Friday. The ceremony was attended by President Rumen Radev, who received the guard of honour, National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan, Deputy Defence Minister Radostin Iliev, the Deputy Chief of Defence, Lt. Gen. Tsanko Stoykov and the Commander of Bulgaria's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Maj. Gen. Yavor Mateev, MPs, members of the Special Forces and veteran paratroopers.
In her speech, Nazaryan stressed that on October 18, Bulgaria honours the valiant performance of military duty and the boundless courage of the fallen paratroopers. "On this day, we bow to the heroism of the fighters of the Parachute Troop, who recorded one of the most glorious pages in the Bulgarian military annals during the Battle of Strazhin (a WW II operation of dislodging the Nazi forces and securing access to Kumanovo and Skopje in Vardar Macedonia in 1944)", Nazaryan said. On October 18, Bulgaria also pays tribute to the paratroopers' worthy successors, "who show dedication, martial skill and high professionalism in serving the Motherland and protecting democracy, peace and freedom".
Maj. Gen. Yavor Mateev commented to reporters that the specific pay for paratroopers has not been updated since 2006 - a fact he defined as abnormal. "Something can be done so that especially younger colleagues have adequate pay for the risk and effort they put in," he added.
Paratrooper Day was instituted by a decision of the Minister of Defence in 1994. On this date in 1944 the Paratrooper Battalion of the Bulgarian First Army, at the cost of great sacrifices, conquered the Strazhin Ridge, fortified by the Nazi army, opening the way for the Bulgarian Army's offensive against the Germans in Vardar Macedonia. For their heroism and sacrifice, the entire personnel of the Paratrooper Battalion was promoted in rank.
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