WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2019) As millions of people around the world on Thursday commemorated Russia's World War II defeat of Nazi Germany, American Robert Bell was spending a rare moment looking forward to the future.
Bell belongs to a small but dedicated group of people of the US state of Pennsylvania who get together nearly every month to delve into the past and re-enact what they say were the most "glorious" battles of the Red Army.
Among the highlights of the group's annual lineup of events is attending local Immortal Regiment marches, held worldwide to pay tribute to those who fought against the Nazis in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Bell said.
"Immortal Regiment is very important because we are preserving the memory of those veterans who defeated Nazism and secured our liberty," Bell told Sputnik. "I want to pay my respect."
The magnitude of that history is precisely why he decided to propose to his fellow re-enactor and now fiancee, Trish DeArmond, during last year's Immortal Regiment march in New York, he said.
For Bell, the idea of proposing during the march came to him because he wanted to be part of a bigger event, one with global and historic significance.
"I had been thinking about doing that for about a year before I actually did. I wanted my proposal be memorable and would like to share a special moment like this," he said.
The two plan to be married next year, and Bell is now looking forward to building a life together with his soon-to-be bride. But for all his excitement about the future, he remains a firm advocate of the need to preserve the past.
Bell's club call themselves the 193rd Rifle Division, named after a unit of the Red Army of the Soviet Union. They gather as often as possible with groups of comrades from nearby states in fields in rural New York and Pennsylvania to re-enact battles such as Kursk and Stalingrad.
They take great care to mirror every detail of the era, donning the uniforms of Soviet Union troops, bearing rifles like those used by the division, and sitting atop rusty T-34 tanks.
"A re-enactment movement is important�because a lot of history out there is being lost," Bell said.
He noted that as each veteran passes away, the world loses yet another firsthand account of these events.
"It has become our duty as re-enactors to preserve and pass on the heritage of these men and women who made such sacrifices to secure our freedom today," he added.
Immortal Regiment marches were held in Washington, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago and many other cities across the United States�
�The Great Patriotic War, which spanned from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945, claimed the lives of some 27 million people from Russia and other former Soviet republics. The war was fought along the Eastern Front of World War II between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and its allies.
