Years of service 1938 - 1964 | Name Ivan Kharchenko Allegiance Soviet Union | |
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Buried at Berkotets Cemetery, Kyiv, Ukraine Unit 31 Detached Engineering and anti-gas battalion of Local Anti-Aircraft Defence troops, NKVD Battles/wars World War IIBattle of StalingradBattle of Kiev (1943) Awards Order of the Red BannerOrder of the Patriotic War 1st classOrder of the Red Star Died July 1, 1989, Kiev, Ukraine | ||
Ivan Ustinovich Kharchenko (Ukrainian: Іван Устинович Харченко, 23 September 1918 - 1 July 1989) was a Soviet Army Military engineering Colonel and Hero of the Soviet Union. During World War II, he was a platoon commander. Kharchenko received was promoted to Junior lieutenant in 1939, lieutenant in 1943 and senior lieutenant in 1944. He reportedly personally defused more than 50,000 explosives, including bombs, mines and shells. For his actions in defusing explosives, Kharchenko was named a Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Gold Star and Order of Lenin on 2 November 1944. In the citation for the Hero of the Soviet Union award, it was stated that Kharchenko personally defused more than 1500 bombs weighing more than 500 kilograms each and 25,000 other explosive objects. After World War II, Kharchenko continued his military service until retirement in 1964. Until 1956 he was personally engaged in rendering innocuous explosive items left over from World War II.
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In March 1961, the battalion commanded by Kharchenko led a rescue operation after the Kurenivka mudslide in Kiev.
Early life
Ivan Kharchenko was born on 23 September 1918 in Komarovka village of Nizhyn Uyezd in the Chernigov Governorate to the family of a peasant. He graduated from seven classes and worked as a factory carpenter in Khimki. In 1938, Kharchenko joined the Red Army
World War II
In 1941 Kharchenko became underleitenant and a platoon commander in the 22 Detached Engineering and anti-gas battalion of Local Anti-Aircraft Defence troops. In 1942 he came back to the unit were he had served in non-commitioned positions -- to the 6th Engineering and anti-gas regiment of the NKVD antiaircraft defense troops. He helped to defuse more than 26,000 German shells, mines and bombs during the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kiev (1943). On 2 November 1944, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin for his actions in defusing unexploded ordnance and mines.
Postwar
After the end of World War II, Kharchenko defused more than 16,000 unexploded bombs, as well as other explosive devices. In 1950, he graduated from the High Officers' Engineering School in Moscow. In 1964, Kharchenko left military service and worked in the Ministry of Assembly and Special Construction Works in Kiev until his retirement in 1986. He died on 1 July 1989 and is buried in the Berkovetskaya Cemetery.