In memoriam of the participants of the Freedom fights
16.11.2011
A day before the Day of Lāčplēsis, November 10th, Riga Warrior’s Cemetery celebrated its 75th birthday. This solemn event was also attended by the Estonian Ambassador to Latvia Mati Vaarmann, lieutenant-general Johannes Kert and Scoutmaster Jüri Ehandi. That day at the Warrior’s Cemetery, the memorial plaque – which was brought to Latvia from Estonia on July 19, 1928 by the Tartu Scoutmaster Valter Sirgo and Estonian Scouts Unit’s president Nikolai Kann together with 85 scouts, who came to celebrate Latvian Scouts’ 10th anniversary celebration - was unveiled. On July 26, 1928 scouts went to the Warrior’s Cemetery in tribute to the fallen ones – representatives of other countries laid flowers, but Mr. Kann announced that Estonia’s Scouts had brought a memorial plaque instead of flowers in memoriam of the fallen warriors. Initially the plaque was placed at the Museum of War, as the constructions for storing relics at the cemetery were not yet finished. It is not known why the plaque was not placed at the Warrior’s Cemetery, when they were finished, but in the 40’s the plaque was lost. It saw the light of the day again in 2009, when some building was demolished and it was delivered to the Embassy of Estonia.   
On November 12 Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves unveiled a memorial plaque at St. George’s Church in Pärnu county’s Tori village for 50 Latvian citizens to whom the Republic of Estonia has granted the highest recognition –the Medal of Honor of the Liberty Cross – for cooperation in the freedom struggle. „Both our countries, Estonia and Latvia, had to defend their right to self-determination on the battlefield; our nations right to freedom had to be proven to the whole world in the hardest way”, said the head of the state at the opening of the plaque. „We did it by creating free and democratic countries”. President Ilves stressed: „ In that fight we were brothers in arms, comrades in battle. Latvia’s Brigade in the composition of the Estonian National Army supported our fight for freedom and the armed forces of Estonia helped to liberate Latvia and protect Riga. Alone and without allies it would have been much more difficult, if not impossible”. Paying tribute to everyone who fought for their homeland in Estonia and Latvia, president Ilves also mentioned the man, who fell first in the defense of Estonia – Latvian Johaan Muischneek, who was lost in February 1918, during the first hours of Independent Estonia.
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Additional information about the plaque: editions 157-166 of the newspaper Latvijas Kareivis (1928), edition of newspaper Latvijas Avīze 20.06.2009. We express gratitude to the translator Gundars Godiņš for the translation of the lieutenant -general speech, Latvia’s Chief Scout Andris Matisons for the photographs and Estonia’s Scouts organizations and Latvian State Historical Archives of the Latvian National Archives, especially to Dace Goze for obliging.
 
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