PLACE OF BIRTH: Konstantinovskoe village, Petrovsky district, Stavropol territory. DATE OF BIRTH: 18.04.1924 DATE OF DEATH: - HISTORY: Rank: First Lieutenant. Corps: Land forces, air force (except naval aviation), coastal service, NKVD troops, border guards. I want to tell you about Ledovsky Ivan Ivanovich. He was born on April 18, 1924. When the war started, he was just 19 years old... He received his military education at the Zhytomyr school. Ivan Ivanovich graduated in 1942 with the rank of Lieutenant. He took the military oath on December 23, 1942. He had to go through a lot of grief, pain, fear and horror, however, like the rest of the millions of people in our long-suffering nation. Firstly, he was a machine-gunner, then a commander of a machine-gun platoon, then a machine-gun company. The most difficult thing in the war, according to his stories, is the stepback of our army. After all, the army stepbacked along with factories and plants, the civilian population with tears in their eyes, and sometimes with words of condemnation looked after our army. After all, civilian people had to live in the occupied territory... In 1942-1943 Ivan Ivanovich fought on the South-Western front, he participated in the liberation of Zaporozhye, in the destroying of the enemy's bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper. In November 1942, the front troops participated in the encirclement of the enemy group at Stalingrad. There he was seriously injured and was treated in the hospital. In January 1944 he came back in action. At that time the commander of the South-Western front was Marshal of the Soviet Union, S. K. Timoshenko. In 1944, Ivan Ivanovich was wounded again, concussed, and hospitalized... Lao Tzu wrote: " The perfection of a warrior lies in vigilance, constant combat readiness, in severity, in sincerity, in impenetrable calm." Ivan Ivanovich was like that. So he remained for the rest of his life strong-willed and calm, confident in himself and his abilities person. He knows the value of words and always was responsible for his actions. After the hospital, he returned to the 2nd Baltic front. In June 1944, he participated in Reicko Dvina operations, defended the river Dvina. During this operation, he received the most expensive medal for his heart - "For Courage". The medal is especially valuable for all front-line soldiers, since it was awarded exclusively for personal bravery shown in battle. This is the main difference between the medal "For Courage" and some other medals and orders that were awarded for participation in battles. He received his medal for taking the prisoner of the war. He captured a fascist with important data for the command. Ivan Ivanovich has the order of the Patriotic war, 1st class. This is the first Soviet award of the great Patriotic War period. And yet, this is the first Soviet order that had a division into classes. The highest class of the order is the 1st class. For skilful, initiative and courageous actions in battle that contributed to the successful completion of combat missions, Ivan Ivanovich was awarded of the medal "For Combat Service". He also has military awards for the capture of Kharkiv, Nevel and Vitebsk. He was dismissed to the reserve on 3.06.1945 with the rank of First Lieutenant. His family keeps his awards. Six medals: medal "For the Victory over Germany" (12.02.1946), anniversary medals- "20 years of Victory", "30 years of victory", "40 years of Victory", "50 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", "60 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR". After the war, he was also awarded for labor merits. For many years of conscientious work in the field of public education, he was awarded the medal "Veteran of Labor" and "For Labor Merits". Immediately after the end of the war, he went to work at a school. He began his teaching career in a rural school, where he worked as a teacher of history and military affairs. After graduating from the Stavropol state pedagogical Institute, he became a history teacher. He was also an inspector in the Department of public education. From 1957 to 1963, he was a head of the District. In 1963, he became Deputy Chairman of the Petrovsky district Executive Committee of the Stavropol territory. He also was a school principal. On January 15, 1997, Ivan Ivanovich died and was buried in Svetlograd, Stavropol territory. I, like all my peers, do not know war. I don't know and I don't want to know war! But those who died in the distant war years did not want it either! And we must preserve the memory of the heroes, of the feat they performed fighting at the front and forging Victory in the rear!