Merkushev, Ivan Ivanovich_x000D_ Merkushev Ivan Ivanovich is a Colonel of the Soviet Army, participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1945). He was born on July 23, 1923 in the village of Verkhnyaya Senda, (now Mari-Tureksky district of Mari El). After finishing High School, he studied in the Agricultural Technical School. In February 1942, Merkushev was drafted to the Red Army. In 1943, he graduated from the Krasnodar Machine gun and Mortar School. Since August, 1943 he was fighting at war. By April 1945, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Merkushev was temporarily acting as the Commander of the 120-mm Mortar Division of the 106th Mortar Regiment of the 1st Mortar Brigade of the 5th Artillery Division of the 4th Artillery Corps of the breakthrough of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. He was distinguished at the storm of Berlin. At the end of April 1945, in the area of the Schönhausen-Allee metro station, when Merkushev's observation post was surrounded by the enemy, he did not leave his post, but continued to direct the military actions of the division, calling fire on his battery. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 31 of May 1945 for "exemplary performance of command combat missions at the front against the German invaders and displaying courage and heroism" Lieutenant Ivan Merkushev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the order of Lenin and Gold Star medal No. 6762. After the end of the war, Merkushev continued to serve in the Soviet Army. In 1956, he graduated from the advanced officer training course. In 1977, Merkushev was dismissed as a Colonel. He lived and worked first in Donetsk, then in the city of Alchevsk, Luhansk region of Ukraine. He died on November 26, 1999, and was buried in Alchevsk. He was also awarded the orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, the Red Star, and a number of medals. A memorial plaque in memory of Merkushev is installed by the Russian Military-Historical Society on the building of the Mari-Bilamorsk Secondary School of the Mari-Tureksky district, where he used to go to school.