Red Star,0069967,Courier,32nd Separate Communications Regiment,Northwestern Front

[Bill Garvy]

Record card

Order booklet nr. 810822

1. Last name: Yudin
2. First name and patronymic: Vasily Akimovich
3. Military rank: Master Sergeant
4. Sex: Male
5. Year of birth: 1917
6. Place of birth: Village of Yevengeny, Bessarabia
7. Party membership (since which year): Member of the Communist Party since 1943
8. Education: Elementary
9. Nationality: Russian
10. Since which year in the Red Army: From November, 1938 through November, 1945
11. Place of service (name of the unit) and position at the time of the award: First sergeant of a Mobile Means of Communication Company of the 32nd Independent Signal Regiment, 2nd Belorussian Front
12. Current place of service and position: Senior railroad car inspector at the train station of Kolosovka, Odessa Oblast
13. Home address of the awardee: Village of Kolosovka, Mostovoye Raion, Odessa Oblast

14. Record of all awards received:

Names of the orders and medals/Their numbers/Numbers of the documents/Ground of award

Order of the Red Star 69967 Temporary certificate nr. 199958 Order of the Northwestern Front nr. 01360/N of October 22nd, 1942

Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class 570264 Temporary certificate nr. Z-394323 Order of the 2nd Belorussian Front nr. 0967/N of August 28th, 1945

Signature of the awardee: [signed]

I confirm the correctness of the data and the signature of the awardee (position and signature):

Military commissar of the Mostovoye Raion
Captain [signed] /Mirrer/
March 18th, 1946

[Bill Garvy]

Award sheet

All fields to be filled out fully

Award sheet

Last name, first name and patronymic: Yudin, Vasily Akimovich
Rank: Senior Sergeant
Position and unit: Courier in the 32nd Independent Signal Regiment
Nominated for: Medal for Courage
1. Year of birth: 1917
2. Nationality: Russian
3. Since when in the Red Army: Since 1938
4. Party affiliation: Member of the Komsomol
5. Participation in combat (where and when): Has been participating in the Patriotic War since June 22, 1941
6. Wounds and contusions received: Wounded on May 5th, 1942
7. Awards received previously (for which merits): None
8. Drafted by which military commissariat: Military Commissariat of the Stalin Raion, City of Odessa
9. Permanent home address (of the prospective awardee or his family): ______________

Short, concrete description of his combat feat or merits (to be compiled by the staff of the military unit, formation or institution):

Since March, 1942 he has been serving as a courier, delivering secret and top secret correspondence to the units and formations of the Northwestern Front.

During this period he conducted 37 sorties in severe weather conditions, and although subjected to attacks by enemy aircraft, he carried out his combat missions and delivered 40,000 packages to their addressees without a single delay.

On May 15th of this year, when he was carrying out an order to deliver a package urgently, his U-2 aircraft was fired upon and shot down by 2 Me-115s.

Comrade Yudin, wounded in his right leg, bleeding profusely, and carrying a load of 375 packages, waded through knee-high mud and covered a distance of 12 kilometers, before delivering the correspondence exactly within the established time frame.

After accomplishing his mission and upon returning to his company, he refused to go to a hospital, but instead stayed with his unit and continued carrying out the duties assigned to him.

Conclusion: For carrying out his task of delivering operational correspondence in an excellent manner and for the bravery and courage displayed in the process, he deserves this nomination for the Medal for Courage.

Commander of the 32nd Independent Signal Regiment
Colonel [signed] /Mikhailov/

Military commissar of the 32nd Independent Signal Regiment
Senior Battalion Commissar [signed] /Pletnev/
September 15th, 1942

He deserves this nomination for the Order of the Red Star [Medal for Courage crossed out].

Chief of the Signal Forces of the Northwestern Front
Major General [signed] /Matveyev/

Military commissar of the Signal Forces of the Northwestern Front
Regimental Commissar [signed] /Korolev/
September 22nd, 1942

By Order of the Northwestern Front nr. 01360/N of October 22nd, 1942 awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Chief of the Personnel Section of the Northwestern Front
Colonel [signed] /Fomin/

[Bill Garvy]

Order

Secret
Copy nr. 2

[Pencil: Northwestern Front; November 22nd, 1942]

Order

Of the Northwestern Front

Nr. 01360

October 22nd, 1942

On behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the exemplary accomplishment of combat missions in the struggle with the German invaders and the valour and bravery displayed in the process, I award:

The Order of the Red Star to:

[…]

10. Senior Sergeant Vasily Akimovich Yudin, Courier in the 32nd Independent Signal Regiment

[…]

Commander of the Northwestern Front
Marshal of the Soviet Union [signed] /Timoshenko/

Members of the Military Council of the Northwestern Front
Corps Commissar [signed] /V. Bogatkin/
Divisional Commissar [signed] /A. Pronin/

[Bill Garvy]

Senior Sergeant Vasily Akimovich Yudin's Order of the Red Star, #69967. Photographs/scans used with permission.

My sincere thanks to Auke. . .