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GUARDS SERGEANT VASILY FEDOROVICH TELKOV
CAVALIER OF THE ORDER OF GLORY
By Henry Sakaida
page 1 of 4
For every decoration that you obtain, there is a story.
Each story is unique and exciting because it involves people. How many
of you have held a decoration in your hands and thought: "If this thing
could talk, what a story it would tell!" I began collecting Soviet decorations
about four years ago. I was lucky enough to purchase a set of all three
classes of the Order of Glory. This set had been awarded to one individual,
making him a "Cavalier." The Order of Glory 1st Class was only awarded
approximately 2,620 times, compared to 12,745 times for the Gold Star
Hero of the Soviet Union. The Order of Glory was awarded in three classes,
beginning with the 3rd class. They were awarded to enlisted men and Air
Force junior lieutenants for direct heroism in combat. The requirements
to win this award are quite extensive and specific (i.e., personally kill
10-50 enemy personnel with small arms; disable two tanks with anti-tank
rifle; personally capture an enemy officer). The recipient who received
all three classes was given the title "Cavalier of the Order of Glory."
The soldier was given the same privileges and status as Heroes of the
Soviet Union. My Order of Glory set was purchased in 
August 1997 from a New Jersey dealer. It came with copies of the recipient's
award citations and translations. The recipient was Guards Sergeant Vasily
Fedorovich Telkov, a peasant farmer born in the village of Putyatino in
1911, in the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow. According to his own
personal biography which he wrote in May 1974, he was inducted into the
Army on 22 June 1941 and became a rifleman in the 16th Military Topographic
Squad which operated near Smolensk. He was seriously wounded in April
1942, but recovered quickly, and was assigned to the 1st Ukrainian Front.
Telkov received the Order of Glory 3rd Class for having crossed the Bug
and Sinyukha Rivers and for having held a bridgehead until the arrival
of infantry. His Order of Glory 2nd Class was awarded for delivering infantry
across the Oder River, taking a bridgehead, and blowing up a railway bridge
across a dam in February 1945. Sgt Telkov finally received the Order of
Glory 1st Class for crossing the Neise and Spree Rivers with his sapper
platoon and capturing the enemy defenseline. In May1945, his unit was
the first in the division to raise their flag on the territory of Berlin.
As I held the orders in my hand, my curiosity took over; it always does.
Who was this man, what did he look like, where are his family now, and
how and why did this decoration leave him and land in the United States?
I have this knack for making such objects "talk." I've done it mostly
with captured Japanese battlefield souvenirs. My collecting policy is,
if there is no possibility in making it talk, I will not purchase it.
I am after the story and not the decoration itself. I could read a little
Russian, thanks to two years of high school Russian (1969-1970). It sure
came in handy after all these years! I found an old WWII address for Vasily
Telkov on the award record card and simply wrote to him at that address.
I never seriously expected a reply. Two months later, I received a large
envelope in the mail from Russia! It was from a woman named Mariya Kuprina,
Telkov's only daughter and surviving child. The letter was in good English
and she had someone write the letter for her. She enclosed two snapshots
of her father. The letter said: "Your letter was a great surprise for
us. Telkov died in 1976. After his death, his awards were taken from his
family to keep them in a museum. We knew nothing about the further
fate of these awards till your letter. If we had the awards, we wouldn't
have sold them even though we don't live very well. These awards are dear
to us as a memory. We are very sorry that these awards are abroad now.
But the fact that you want to keep them with honor comforts us. We think
dishonorable people sold the awards. We had received nothing from selling
those orders. We don't know how the medals had disappeared from the museum.
And now we are glad to tell you some words about V.F. Telkov. V.F. Telkov
was a strapping, (continued...) |
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