Russia – Soviet: A Cherkassy Medal for Bravery issued to Private V.F. Lelyak, 800thRifle Regiment, 143rdRifle Division for bursting into the village and with his personal weapon destroyed 4 German soldiers, and with a group of other Rifleman, captured a Prisoner.
Medal for Bravery, type 2, reverse numbered 3639544
Condition: some enamel loss to lettering on the obverse, otherwise Good very fine
Vasily Fedorovich Lelyak was born in the village of Bolshoi Varovichi in Kaganovich District, Kiev Oblast during 1915 and served in the Red Army from the outbreak of the war in June 1941 until September 1946, when he was discharged. He was to be awarded two decorations during the Patriotic War, the first of which was a Medal for Combat Merits by Order of the 800th Rifle Regiment on 4th February 1944, and the second of which was this Medal for Bravery by Order of the 800th Rifle Regiment (which was part of the 143rd Rifle Division) on 17th April 1944 as a result of the following:
‘Rifleman of the foraging platoon, Red Army Soldier Lelyak, Vasily Fedorovich for: in battle for the village of Cherkassy, Volynskoi Oblast, he was the first – with a group of scouts – to burst into the village and with his personal weapon destroyed 4 Germany soldiers, and, with a group of rifleman, captured a prisoner.’
After the war he worked as a collective farmer in the village of Bolshoi Varovichi, Kaganovich District, Kiev Oblast and was also living in the village.
