By the beginning of 1991, as many as six hundred thousand men and women from across the Soviet Union had taken part in cleanup work in the radioactive netherworld surrounding the site of Reactor Number Four and would be officially recognized as Chernobyl liquidators. In acknowledgment of their service, many were issued special identity cards and an enameled medal depicting the Greek letters for alpha, beta, and gamma surrounding a scarlet drop of blood. All understood that, as with the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, their sacrifices had earned them a lifetime of care from their
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