Rank: Guards Corporal Branch of service: Artillery Ivan Bitsura was born in 1924 in the village of Suzdal, Goryacheklyuchevsky District. The Great Patriotic War began. His father was sent to the front from the first days of the war. Many of Ivan's friends also defended their Homeland. He also decided to go to defend his Homeland, even though he was not 18. He came to a conscription office in order to take a summons to war. "Bring your documents and we'll mark you," the Lieutenant said. - "My documents are lost..." He was still given a summons to come to the assembly point. He told his mother about this, who bitterly cried: "I only recently saw my father off, and now you..." He passed the commission, was pronounsed fit for military service and sent to active military service. He took the military oath on August 29, 1942 at the 1258th Anti-aircraft Regiment. So he became a small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery gunner. He received his baptism of fire on Malaya Zemlya. He was shell-shocked, an enemy shell exploded near him. He was in a hospital in Novorossiysk. He couldn't hear or speak for a month. When the North Caucasus was liberated from the German invaders, his regiment moved West. Ivan was visited at the hospital by his military friends to say goodbye, but he did not hesitate to pack up his things and went with his friends to his regiment. Received the Medal For the Defense of the Caucasus #005125 dated 27.09.1944. He left the hospital without treatment, and became deaf and stuttered after being injured. But he shot well. In one of the place, there was fierce fighting. It was urgent to find out where the main German fortifications were located. It was necessary to bring a prisoner ("language"). It was nessesary to pick up scouts who could swim well. Bitsuru was a good swimmer, and there was a river on the rough terrain. After a while, they brought a "language" that gave valuable information. The German defenses were broken. He was awarded the Medal For Bravery #624371 dated 15.07.1943. Ivan was awarded the Order of the Red Star #1419884 of 5.05.1945 and valuable gifts for his military services. After the war, his fellow soldiers fought in the rear with the Nazis, then I. Bitsura was a clerk at the headquarters. He was discharged in 1945. The concussion showed itself in old age: he was almost blind, stuttered, and became deaf. In addition, the leg was amputated due to a common disease. He became disabled, but not a disabled war veteran, because there was no certificate that he was shell-shocked. We sent a request to Podolsk. They replied that he was not absent from the unit. Sent to Leningrad to the medical archive. They replied that there was a I. Bitsura, but he was born in 1927 and was born in Belgorod. But until the end of his life, he was proud of the fact that he received the Order of the Red Star and went through the entire war defending his Homeland.