The main visiting card of Muynak in Karakalpakstan is, of course, the old ship port, where the ship graveyard is located. During the World War II, soldiers from all over Uzbekistan came to this port across the Amu Darya River, and from there they boarded ships and headed to the city of Aralsk in Kazakhstan, from where they were transported to the front by trains and other means of transport. In this old harbor there is a monument, the top of which points towards the sky. Today the monument is considered a monument to the sea and port, but it was originally built to commemorate the soldiers who died in World War II and was called the Flying Star. The residents of Muynak remember very well the impressive event that led to the construction of this monument. This story is like this: In 1941, when the war began, a father and his only son from the same house in Muynok were called to the front. Aksary mother was left at home alone. Soon a black letter arrived from the front saying that father had died. But after the son left, there was no news. There was no one who said they saw or knew. The war is over. Some of those who went to the front are disabled, some return healthy. It is reported that those who did not return died somewhere in the war. However, there was no news about Aksary's son. The mother waited for mail every day, every day she went out to meet the incoming ship. However, there was no news about her only son. Since the end of the war, the mother made it a habit to come to this port every day and sit for hours on the road along which her son was traveling. Years passed. By the mid-1970s, the sea began to recede and the port had to be moved. The mother who had been waiting for her son in this place for over 30 years screams “don't move the port.” “My son went to war by this sea route. If it comes, it will come with this sea,” he shouted to those who wanted to move the port. “Sister, there will be no more sea. The ships don't sail. “If your child is coming, he will come by car or plane, not by sea,” they said. “No, you don't understand. My child is still small. Only through this sea route can he find his home. He doesn't know any other land besides Muynak; he has only been to the sea. If my child comes, it will only be by sea. Otherwise, how will he find a home?..." - In 1978, when I was going to study in Almaty, I last saw Mother Aksary going to this port. “I graduated in 1983, but I didn't see this woman then,” recalled Khanimay from Muynak. A man named Abdikerim Tleuov, who worked for 28 years as the second secretary of the Muynak district committee, was deeply touched by the fate of the mother, who had been waiting for her son for 40 years, and put forward the idea of creating the Flying Star Memorial in memory of the soldiers who died in the war. Previously, this monument had the inscription “1941-1945” with five stars on top. The Ship Graveyard is located here. 12 old ships indicate that there was once a sea on this site. Yesimkan Kanaatov, Nukus city, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan