Hiorhi Saralidze (Hiurza-2)

Giorgi Saralidze was the only child in the family; his mother came from the ancient princely family of Bagrationi and was a judge of the Constitutional Court of Georgia. On his father's side, everyone was military — his father, grandfather, great-grandfather. His father died defending Georgia's independence during the Georgian-Abkhaz war (1992–1993) when Giorgi was still a teenager. At 13, Giorgi joined the Legion of Georgian Falcons, and at 15, he joined the National Guard, where his father served. He graduated from the intelligence faculty of the military academy in Tbilisi, the counterintelligence faculty of the Turkish military academy in Istanbul, and also studied part-time at Tbilisi State University, majoring in Law. He participated in peacekeeping missions as part of NATO forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in August 2008, he defended his homeland against Russian invaders with a weapon in hand. He was awarded the high military honor of Georgia — the Order of Vakhtang Gorgasali II degree, which he proudly wore in Ukraine. Since 2014, at the age of 37 and with the military rank of lieutenant colonel, he resigned from military service in the Armed Forces of Georgia and joined the defense of Ukraine along with a small group of Georgian volunteer instructors operating as part of the separate special forces unit of the National Guard of Ukraine "Azov." In the spring of 2015, he participated in fierce battles for the village of Shyrokyne, and on April 18, he was seriously wounded in a battle in which his comrade Georgi Janelidze (Satan) was killed (despite the pain from his wounds, Giorgi found the strength to participate in the farewell ceremony). In Zaporizhzhia, where he was undergoing treatment, he met his love… He managed to register his marriage only on the third attempt, even having to pay a fine for a delayed visit to the State Migration Service. Despite the severity of his injury (during surgery at the capital's Institute of Neurosurgery, 14 small shrapnel pieces were removed from his body), Giorgi was eager to return to the front, and when it became clear that "Azov" was withdrawn from the front lines, in May 2016, he signed a contract for military service with the command of the 92nd separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He organized and led a deep reconnaissance group in the 92nd brigade, which consisted mainly of former "Azov" members and other volunteers. After the rotation of this unit in the fall of 2017, he transferred to the 42nd separate motorized infantry battalion "Movement of Resistance" of the 57th separate motorized infantry brigade, as he did not want to "miss the war" while being at rear bases and training grounds. He held the position of senior gunner of the grenade launcher section of the anti-tank platoon of the fire support company. Giorgi was a well-educated person; he sang beautifully, recited poems by Schiller, Dante, and Rustaveli from memory, wrote poetry and prose himself, and painted well. His wife once noted his words: "From life to death — only a second. A person has two lives: one — when they were born and lived until death, the other — when they died and left their name and memories of themselves. If they are remembered by different nations, songs are written about them, and children are named in their honor — a person lives forever…" On December 9, 2016, on the 40th day after Giorgi's death, an evening of remembrance for the Georgian volunteer who fell for Ukraine took place at the Zaporizhzhia Palace of Children's and Youth Creativity, during which a sixth magnitude star named in his honor and registered on the International Star Catalog website "Cosmos-Earth" was presented — "General Giorgi Saralidze" in the constellation Virgo (coordinates: # 13 33 09.18 # +05 51 10 86). Edward Andryushchenko: "Mariupol, Azov base, November 2014. Giorgi Saralidze (Gurza-2) from Georgia and Vova Radionov (Champion) from Luhansk. Champion was as happy as a child with the hand grenade for the automatic rifle. Gurza invited for New Year — promised to make the best shashlik. Vova died 2.5 months later. Giorgi was buried yesterday…"