In 1937, Ivan Mikhailovich was drafted into the ranks of the Armed Forces. He was sent to Saratov at the Red Banner Command Tank School. At the beginning of June 1941 he graduated from college and was sent for further service to the city of Vilnius in Lithuania. He arrived at the unit on June 18, and already on June 20, their tank unit was standing on the western border and was waiting for something. There was already talk that there would be a war. On June 22, 1941, at 4:00 am, shooting began, German reconnaissance aircraft circled in the air. Here they already learned that they would fight the Germans. The western group of troops was surrounded, many soldiers were captured. Ivan Mikhailovich was shell-shocked, but did not lie in the hospital, as he simply was not there. Only at the end of August 1941, they managed to get out of the encirclement with battles in the area of ​​Bryansk. Here he received a direction to leave for Voronezh, and from there to Stalingrad. His regiment took part in the defense of Stalingrad, for which all participants were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" and a commemorative badge. The Battle of Stalingrad for many of its participants was a school of courage and courage. After the defeat of the Germans, the regiment was sent to the city of Kurgan to train tank crews for the front. Ivan Mikhailovich fought on the BT-7 tank and taught young specialists to manage it. The war went on, the equipment changed, the T-34 tanks began to be produced. To teach people, you had to retrain yourself. In 1944 he was sent to Leningrad to an armored school, from which he graduated in May 1945. There he met the joyful news of the long-awaited victory. Few people survived the war, returned without injuries and wounds. Ivan Mikhailovich burned twice in the tank and was shell-shocked. After the war, he served in Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, was demobilized with the rank of major. He returned to his homeland, worked as chairman of the village council in Baldeyka, then the regional party committee sent him to Gybdan as director of the timber industry enterprise. In 1962, he transferred to the Kizner military unit and worked as the head of security. From here I went on a well-deserved rest. Ivan Mikhailovich lived a long and heroic life, together with his wife they raised and raised four daughters. He died on January 28, 2002 at the age of 85. Awarded with medals: "For Courage", "For Military Merit", "For the Defense of Stalingrad", "For Victory over Germany in WWII 1941-1945", the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War II degree.