Vasily Zakharovich Zhurkin was born in 1923 in Bolshaya Glushitsa village, Bolshe-Glushitsky district, Kuibyshev region. He was recruited in 1942, at the age of 19, by the district military commissariat of Bolshe-Glushitsky district of Kuibyshev region (now Samara region) to the 371st Guards self-propelled artillery regiment (371 gv.s.a.) of the First Shock Army (1 Ud.A.). As part of the Army he participated in the following combat operations: - near Volokolamsk (03.01.1942 - 09.01.1942); - the offensive operation in the Vyazemsky direction (10.01.1942 - 13.02.1942) as part of the First Shock Army led by Lieutenant-General V.I. Kuznetsov, During the offensive, the front troops inflicted significant losses to the enemy, pushing them to the west from 16 to 150 km, liberated the cities of Mozhaisk, Vereya, Medyn, Myatlevo. - The first attack surrounding the Demian group of Germans (13.02.1942 - 19.03.1942) as part of the First Shock Army led by Lieutenant-General V.I. Kuznetsov. On 23 February 1942, the advancing troops of the North-Western Front completed the encirclement of the Demian group of the enemy and fought unsuccessfully to destroy it until the second half of March 1942. In March, the enemy managed to make a corridor gap up to 4 km wide and join the encircled group on 23 April 1942. Later, as a result of persistent battles, by 14.05.1942, the enemy had extended the corridor to 12 km. In the course of further military operations between 21.03.1942 and 14.02.1943, the 371st Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment marched the way Volokolamsk - Rzhev - Toropets - Lychkovo, Novgorod region. In mid-February 1943, the operation of the North-Western Front to eliminate Demyanskoye bridgehead was launched. Troops of the 53rd Army, led by Major-General E.P. Zhuravlev, interposed itself in the enemy's defense in the Zaluchie area and threatened to surround the Demyan group. On 18.02.1943, the enemy began withdrawing from Demyanskoye beachhead. By 01.03.1943, Soviet troops, pursuing the enemy, had reached the border of Omychkino, Dubka, northwest of Zaluchiye. As a result of the battles to the south and south-east of Staraya Russa, the front troops eliminated the enemy's bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Lovat River and, having advanced 20 km, reached the border of Bol. Gorby, Novye Selo, Vyazka. During the Staro-Russo-Novorzhevskaya operation to chase the enemy as part of the First Shock Army, the regiment moved through the settlements of Dedovichi-Sorokino-Veska-Basino in the Pskov region. The 1st and 22nd Armies moved 110-160 km, the 10th and 3rd Armies moved 8-20 km. By 4.3.44, the front troops had reached the border of Pogorelka, Pushkinskie Gory and Pustoshka. Then the battlefield of the First Strike Army as part of the Third Baltic Front (3 PribF) shifted to the Estonian SSR. The period from 10.08.1944 to 06.09.1944 was the period of the Tartu offensive. The front troops defeated the enemy group of Tartu and, advancing north-west for 120 km and west for 70-90 km, reached the border of Vybsta, north of Tartu, Verevi, Kuldsep, Gaiuen, west of Gulbene; during the offensive the Soviet troops liberated Võru, Tartu, Elva, Gulbene. Extract from the award sheet of Lieutenant Zhurkin V.Z. of 03.09.1944, No. 302/n: "...Lieutenant Zhurkin V.Z. of the Guards during the battles of August 18-24, 1944 was always in the regiment as a representative of the infantry units supported by self-propelled guns of the regiment. In the battle near the height of 107.7 on August 22, 1944, he showed determination and initiative. When the German infantry, supported by Artschturm self-propelled guns, went into counterattack, Zhurkin led the infantry with his personal example. Supported by fire of our SU (Self-propelled rifles), the infantry of 68 gv. Op repulsed the counterattack of the Germans, self-propelled gun "Artsturm" was hit by our SU ...". The commander of the 371 gv self-propelled artillery regiment of the Guard, Major Kibal. On the basis of the representation Zhurkin V.Z. was awarded the Order of the Red Star. After the war, he graduated from the Military Orders of Lenin and the October Revolution, the Red Banner Academy of Armored Troops named after Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky. He served in the Red Army. The last place of service, before his retirement, was the General Staff of the USSR Ministry of Defense.