5. A Red Army Hero Who Never Wanted to be in an Army
Dmitry Ovcharenko was born in 1919 in a Ukrainian peasant village, the son of a carpenter. He grew into a mild mannered young man, whom acquaintances described as lacking a vicious bone in his body, and the type of who would not hurt a fly. Nothing about him indicated that one day, he would become a hero by dint of bloody exploits in combat. Ovcharenko quit school in fifth grade to make a living in his village, caring for cattle, cutting and storing hay, and attempting to learn carpentry from his father.
Everyday life in his village required familiarity and handiness with an ax. That turned out to be a great asset. When he was 21, Ovcharenko was drafted into the Red Army. He had no taste for the military, and all he wanted was to just serve his term, then return to his village to get married and raise a family. Unfortunately, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in June, 1941, and Ovcharenko’s dreams of returning to a simple life back in his village went up in smoke. It did not take our hero long to make the invaders pay.
