Rank: senior Sergeant. Troops: - Ground Forces, - Air Force (except marine aviation), - Coast Guard, - NKVD troops, - Border Guard. Vasily Kovalev was born on April 10, 1921 in Kursk in a large family of a baker. He received a 3-class education. Before the Great Patriotic War, he worked at the mine named after Artem in Dzerzhinsk, Stalin (Donetsk region). In May 1940, he married Lydia Ivanovna Novitskaya. He was called up to serve in the Red Army by the Dzerzhinsk RVC, the Ukrainian SSR, the Stalin (Donetsk) region, and the Dzerzhinsk district in May 1940 and sent to serve in the far East. According to his daughters ' recollections of their father's stories: Vasily Mikheevich served in Vladivostok in the 15th Marine Corps Brigade until the fall of 1942. Then he participated in the Stalingrad operation as part of the 333 rifle brigade. There, in the trenches of Stalingrad, he became a member of the CPSU (b). In July 1943, he was seriously wounded in the Kalach area and was hospitalized for a long time. Documents confirming service, wounds, and military awards from 1940 to October 1944 are currently being searched for in the archives. On October 7-8, 1944, V. M. Kovalev arrived at the 1st Ukrainian front to replenish the 1235th rifle regiment of the 373rd rifle division, stationed in the area of Vladimir-Volynsky. As part of the 1st battalion of this regiment, he served until the end of the war as a senior cook. When crossing the Oder river 16 km South-East of Breslavl (Germany) during the battle on 22-24.01.1945, for timely delivery of hot meals under heavy enemy fire to the regiment's forward positions captured on the other bank of the river, Sn. Sergeant V. M. Kovalev was presented with the medal "For Combat Services". Victory day Vasily Mikheevich welcomed in the offensive of the division of Czechoslovakia near the city of Görlitz (Germany). Vasily Mikheevich was discharged in the summer of 1945. He returned to Donbass and before retiring in the early 70's worked as a sinker at the mine named after Artyom in the village Artemovo, Dzerzhinsk, Donetsk region. In the post-war years, he was awarded the jubilee medals of 20, 30, 40 years of Victory and 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years of the USSR armed forces. In 1985, he was awarded the order of the Patriotic War II degree. The veteran can be described with such a detail- he never used travel privileges - "Why, can I not pay myself, I'm still alive?!". He loved the song "Zemlyanka" (Dugout) and often sang it. Vasily Kovalev died on December 28, 1987.