Kochetov, Vasily Aleksandrovich (January 1, 1921, village of Kozhino, now Arzamassky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region — May 25, 1983, Nizhny Novgorod) was a Soviet agricultural manager, chairman of the October Revolution Collective Farm in Bolsheboldinsky District of Gorky Region, and a Hero of Socialist Labor (1971).[1]
Education and Prewar Career
He was born into a peasant family. In 1936 he finished the Vyezdnovo incomplete secondary school and enrolled in the Kazan Veterinary Technical School, from which he graduated in 1939.[1] After graduating, he worked as a veterinarian on the state farms "Kultura" in Arzamassky District and "Novy Mir" in Vadsky District of Gorky Region.[2]
Military Service
From March 1942 he took part in the Great Patriotic War as a military feldsher (medical assistant) of the 113th Rifle Division on the Western, 2nd Ukrainian, and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.[1] He was awarded the Medal "For Battle Merit" (October 10, 1944).[2] He was demobilized in 1945.
Postwar Career and Leadership of the Collective Farm
After returning from the front, he worked as a veterinary technician on the "Den Urozhaya" collective farm in Pochinkovsky District, and from 1948 as a senior veterinarian on the state farms "Bolshevik" in Bolsheboldinsky District and "Komintern" in Dalnekonstantinovsky District of Gorky Region.[1] From 1952 to 1955 he managed the "Voskhod" state farm in Vorotynsky District, first as a section head and then as director; at the same time, without leaving his job, he completed advanced training courses for state farm directors at the Gorky Agricultural Institute.[1]
From 1955 he again worked as senior veterinarian of the Bolshevik state farm in Bolsheboldinsky District, and in 1958 he became head of the October Revolution collective farm in the same district, remaining its chairman until his retirement in 1975.[1] Under his leadership the collective farm consistently harvested high yields of grain and industrial crops and was a regular participant in the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy.[1]
Awards and public activity
By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 8, 1971, for outstanding achievements in the development of agricultural production and in fulfilling the five-year plan for the sale of crop and livestock products to the state, Kochetov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, with the presentation of the Order of Lenin (No. 411068) and the gold medal "Hammer and Sickle" (No. 16360).[1]
He was also awarded two Orders of Lenin (March 22, 1966, and April 8, 1971), the Order of the October Revolution (December 11, 1973), and medals.[2] He was elected a deputy of the Bolsheboldinsky District Council and the Gorky Regional Council of People's Deputies.[1]
Legacy
He died on May 25, 1983, and is buried at the Bugrovskoye Cemetery in Nizhny Novgorod.[1] In 1983, a challenge prize named after Hero of Socialist Labor V. A. Kochetov, awarded to the best farm in the district, was established in Bolsheboldinsky District.[1] Vasily Aleksandrovich Kochetov was the father of Evgeny Vasilyevich Kochetov.[2]
Sources
- warheroes.ru — Hero of Socialist Labor Kochetov Vasily Aleksandrovich — Heroes of the Country (archive)
- names52.ru — Kochetov Vasily Aleksandrovich (archive)