THE YOUNGEST SOLDIER WHO GOT A MEDAL

Seryozha Aleshkov was only six years old when he lost his mom and older brother who was 10 years old at that time, his two older brothers had just been enlisted and his father died before the war.

In 1942 during summer, his village was attacked by the German soldiers who believed that the little village were helping the guerilla soldiers and partisans, so they started murdering the entire villagers, his 10 year old brother was hanged and his mother was shot while trying to save his brother.

He escaped into the woods where he wandered aimlessly for days, feeding on wild berries until he got so hungry when he could not find any berries and was exhausted.

He was discovered by a reconnaissance group of the 142nd Guards Rifle regiment, hungry and with scars from insect bites.

The soldiers covered him with a horse blanket, took him to their camp, got him treated and let decided to let him stay, later on he was officially adopted by the regiment’s commander, Mikhail Vorobyov. The little boy would always report to his adoptive Father and ask for the duty that he would carry out that day, so his persistence got him the duty of delivering newspapers and letters, his cheerfulness, playful nature and love for the team boosted the morale and confidence in victory at extremely difficult moments.

He was like the camp’s mascot, he would cheer the wounded, read them imaginary letters from the families just to cheer them up and take their minds off the battle, reminding them that they were fighting for their children.

One day during his regular rounds, he discovered some German spies hiding in a haystack and he quickly reported to the regiment and those spies were found out and caught, the regiment commander thanked him for it.

One time he was given a medal, “For combat medal” for his heroic act during an artillery invasion.

During an artillery shelling, Seryozha’s adoptive Father was buried under debris in a dugout, when he tried to dig his adoptive father on his own and failed, he had to call some sappers who succeeded in bringing out his father but he was wounded and shell shocked.

Soon the entire soldiers grew fond of him and gave him the uniform of a soldiers and added the rank of a junior lieutenant jokingly, a mistake that almost cost him his life, the rank of a junior lieutenant had a shiny straps added on the shoulder, during a battle, he was shot at by an enemy fighter jet who saw his shiny strap from afar and Seryozha was wounded on his heel, his Father wasn’t happy about it.

Another time he almost got drowned but was saved, during a time that the regiment was dispatched to another location, their vehicle drove on a landmine, and it exploded but he was not wounded although the driver died.

When his good deeds and heroic acts were spread abroad, the commander ordered that he should be sent to the Suvorov military school and a browning pistol was given to him as a souvenir.

He was later awarded the “First Class Patriotic War medal” he could not continue his Military career because of his frail nature so he went to a law school, he died at the age of 54 because of a heart attack.

A book was written about his heroic acts titled ‘son of the regiment’ and a movie as well titled ‘little warrior’

This story makes one wonder if age is really a factor to courage or are some people born brave?

Let me know what you think in the comments

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