Kurochkin Ivan Nikonorovich was born in August 1921 in Seredichi, Oryol region, in a working peasant family with many children. After seven years, he finished Bolkhov pedagogical school and was sent to work to Narykov elementary school. I. Kurochkin in the winter of 1939 was drafted into the army by Bolkhov Local Military Committee of Oryol region. He began his service at the regimental school in Borisoglebsk, Voronezh region. In the first days of the war, I. Kurochkin was prematurely awarded the rank of Sergeant and was enlisted as an artillery gunner of the 327th rifle division, which fought as part of the 2nd shock army on the Volkhov's frontline. From the memories of Kurochkin Ivan Nikonorovich: "In the winter of 1941 there were bloody battles near Meat Bor, Lyuban, Malaya Vishera. The troops were in a lack of transport, food and weapons. Yet, by mid-January, the army managed to break through the enemy's defensive line and move in the direction of the 54th army, but the connection did not occur. The Germans pulled several fresh divisions up to Myasny Bor and by the spring of 1942 narrowed the neck of the "bag", where the 2nd shock army of General Vlasov was blocked - at night the General with the several subordinates surrendered to Germans voluntarily. This betrayal cost the lives of many thousands of warriors. Military leaders with their regiments and divisions tried to get out of the encirclement in groups, but together with the soldiers they either died in an unequal battle, or were captured." On April 30, 1942, I. N. Kurochkin, a mortar commander of a separate mortar division, was awarded the order of the red Star for exemplary performance of combat tasks of the command. But I. Kurochkin did not receive the award, because in June 1942, after the unsuccessful breakthrough, like many other comrades, he was captured. He was saved from starvation due to his selection for the agricultural work in a German farmer in Lamsdorf, where Ivan was working for about a year. Then he was transferred to the concentration camp in Poland in Katowice area, where the prisoner Kurochkin worked in mining. From there, together with his comrades, our countryman tried to escape, but the attempt failed. After his escape, Kurochkin was transferred to another concentration camp in Austria, where he remained until his release on may 8, 1945. After verification by the special Department, I. N. Kurochkin was rehabilitated and as a searchlight operator joined the searchlight company, serving in Austria for another year. In may 1946, I. N. Kurochkin was discharged and moved to his brother in Oktyabrsky in Komsomolsky district of Ivanovo region. He worked as a primary school teacher in Oktyabrskaya high school. In 1953, he graduated from the Ivanovo pedagogical Institute in absentia and began working as a teacher of Russian language and literature, then taught drawing, painting and labor training. I. N. Kurochkin introduced the world of beauty to the students and painted in watercolors and oils. His passion for visual arts was transferred to his students. After retirement, he was a Chairman of the Council of veterans of Oktyabrsky for many years. In 1985, on the 40th anniversary of the Victory, Ivan Nikonorovich Kurochkin was awarded the order of the Patriotic war of the II degree