Graduates of the Solovetsky Cabin Boy School
The monument was installed in memory of the Solovetsky cabin boys who died during the Great Patriotic War. During the Great Patriotic War, boys aged 14-16 entered Solovetsky Cabin Boy School as volunteers. After graduation, they were sent to the warships of the active fleets. Over the three years of its existence, the school produced 4,500 specialists, including very well-known ones. At one time, the Heroes of the Soviet Union Vladimir Moiseenko, Admiral Vadim Korobov, writer Valentin Pikul, soloist of the St. Petersburg Opera Theater Boris Shtokolov and many others were graduates of Solovetsky Cabin Boy School. One of the most famous graduates of Solovetsky Cabin Boy School was Sasha Kovalev who served on the torpedo boat TK-209 on May 8, 1944. On May 8, 1944, the boat attacked a group of enemy ships, after which it was attacked by German aircraft, as a result of which the radiator was pierced, from which hot water began to flow. Sasha Kovalev covered a hole in the radiator of the middle engine with his body, having received severe burns. He was awarded the Ushakov Medal, the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (posthumously). Currently, the Moscow Council of Veterans of Solovetsky Cabin Boy School continues to work actively. On the initiative of veterans, the Museum of Military Glory was created and is one of the best in Moscow on the basis of School No. 349. The monument is a sculptural composition made of bronze, which is mounted on a pedestal of red granite. In the foreground of the composition is the figure of a cabin boy standing on a wave, who holds semaphore flags in his raised hands. Behind the cabin boy’s back is depicted a sail stretched in the wind, over which an albatross hovers. On the front surface of the pedestal is a dedicatory inscription: “To the Solovetsky Cabin Boys — defenders of the Motherland in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”
Address: Moscow, Solovetsky Jung Square
