前苏联红军一位二战老兵1943年因在战斗中负伤误被战友埋葬。死里逃生的他日前终于获得法官“验明正身”，即将补领到本属于自己的那枚二战胜利60周年勋章。

    据英国《观察家》报11月6日报道，这位名叫吉奥尔吉·波诺马列夫的老兵今年81岁，来自俄罗斯南部城市斯塔夫罗波尔，他在二战中参加了将德国纳粹军队赶出乌克兰的战斗。今年是二战胜利60周年，吉奥尔吉的一位战友获得了二战胜利荣誉勋章。而当吉奥尔吉也向乌克兰有关部门提出奖励申请时却被告知，资料显示他在1943年时已经牺牲了。所幸的是，乌克兰法官日前终于认定他确实仍然健在。下个星期，有着传奇经历的吉奥尔吉就将领到属于自己的荣誉勋章。

    1943年一个冬日发生在乌克兰村庄Sofievka的故事彻底改变了吉奥尔吉的人生。当时他是个十几岁的年轻军士，正带领排里的9个战士向德军掩体匍匐前进。敌人火力突然袭来，他们开始后撤。这时，一发炮弹落在吉奥尔吉身旁，他被冲击波弹到了空中。

    当他清醒过来之后，发现自己四周一片漆黑，身上像是压了副重担，连呼吸都变得十分困难，这时才意识到，自己被埋在了地下。吉奥尔吉回忆说：“我的右手被弹片打伤不能动弹，但我还可以用左手。”由于土层干燥松软，加上顽强的求生本能，他从地下一米处为自己扒出了一条生路。但被炸弹轰得晕头转向的他，却又错走入德占区，不幸被一队德军巡逻队抓住。

    二战结束后很长时间里，吉奥尔吉一直以为自己当时是被爆炸产生的扬土埋在下面。一次，他偶然遇到从前排里的战士阿列克谢。阿列克谢见到他后，脸色发白地说：“我的上帝，我不是亲手把你埋了吗？”原来，吉奥尔吉的战友在他被炸晕后以为他已经牺牲，于是将他和其他几名牺牲的战友就地埋葬了。由于吉奥尔吉在其中的职位最高，他被埋在了最上层。

    德军抓住吉奥尔吉后将其押上火车送往德国。路上他设法逃下车来，但之后再次被抓并被送进了奥斯维辛集中营。他在那里受尽苦头，体重降低到35公斤。是靠了厨房里的一个朋友偷偷多给他一勺萝卜汤，吉奥尔吉才熬到了战争结束。

    战后，吉奥尔吉回到家乡取妻生子，并成为一名工程师。今年，乌克兰政府决定奖励那些为保卫乌克兰做出了贡献的老兵。但吉奥尔吉却被告知，要想得到荣誉勋章，必须先证明自己还活着。于是，他于2005年9月向法庭提出请求，要求法庭证明他没有在战争中死亡。

    由于自己瘫痪在床，吉奥尔吉请求法官将身份听证会移到了自己家里举行。负责此案的法官斯坦尼斯拉夫宣布：“所有文件和证人证词使我们确信，他就是那个曾经‘牺牲’在战场上的人。”下个星期，吉奥尔吉就将等来自己的二战荣誉勋章。他准备依照传统习俗，把荣誉勋章用伏特加酒沾湿以示庆祝。

    There had been rumours. Talk of his name on a war memorial on a faraway hilltop. But it was not until the 81-year-old's friend was awarded a 60th anniversary medal this year - for liberating Ukraine from Nazi occupation during the Second World War - that the truth came out.

    Georgy, a former Red Army infantryman from the southern Russian city of Stavropol, fancied a medal too for his part in pushing the 'Hitlerovtsi' out. Yet when he called the Ukrainian military commissariat, the official said: 'You can't have it. You died in 1943.' Only now has Georgy been able to get a court decision proving he is very much alive. Next week he will get his medal.

    Behind the mix-up is a tale of survival that has turned Georgy into a minor celebrity.

    It was winter 1943 when the teenage sergeant led his platoon of nine in a desperate attack on a German bunker near the Ukrainian village of Sofievka. They crept up with their grenades but came under fire, and a shell exploded next to Georgy as he and his men retreated, the shock wave catapulting him into the air.

    When he regained consciousness hours later, all was dark and a great weight pressed down on his body. Fighting for breath, Georgy realised the full horror of the situation: he was underground. 'My right hand was hit by shrapnel and didn't work, but I could move my left and I began to claw the earth away,' he recalls.

    Luckily, the soil was dry and crumbly. 'I wanted to live; the instinct was strong. I was about a metre deep. Finally, I made a hole and got my head out, then my torso.' Deafened and lost, he stumbled into enemy territory and a German patrol found him.

    Only at the end of the war did he find out what had happened. Georgy had imagined he was covered by debris from the shell. By chance, he ran into an old comrade from his platoon, Aleksei Chuykov. 'Don't you recognise me?' Georgy remembers asking him. Chuykov went white: 'My God, I buried you myself.'

    It transpired that, under fire, Georgy's comrades had presumed him dead and buried him with several comrades, in the crater where he fell. As the senior soldier of the group, he was laid on top of the pile of corpses. 　

    Escape from an early grave was not the final horror of Georgy's war. After capture he was sent to Germany by train. En route he escaped, but was recaptured and sent to Auschwitz. There his weight dropped to 35kg and he only survived because a friend in the kitchens slipped him extra portions of turnip soup.

    Back home after the war, his amazed family showed him the letter that stated he was dead. Georgy later married, had children and worked as an engineer.

    Only this year did things come to a head. When Georgy applied for the veterans' medal promised by the Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko, the bureaucrats replied: 'If you're alive, prove it.'

    Now bed-ridden, Georgy requested a court hearing at his home to confirm his identity.

    'All his documents and witness statements allowed us to confirm he was the same man who "died" there,' said Stanislav Saneev, the judge at the hearing.

    Georgy has invited court officials to attend a dinner where he will wash his medal in vodka, according to tradition. He reserves the greatest thanks for the man who buried him alive. 'Stalin had given an order to remove warm clothes from all corpses. But Chuykov left me in my padded jacket and my hat. Without them I would have frozen to death.'