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Auction: 24113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 1015

An unusual posthumous Order of the Red Star awarded to Private S. I. Bidashchuk, 70th Independent Guards Motorized Brigade, for his gallantry in Helmand Province in January 1988

Russia, Soviet Union, Order of the Red Star, the reverse officially numbered '3779927', good very fine

Sergei Ivanovich Bidashchuk was born in January 1969 in Lotskino, Nikolaev Oblast, Bashtansky, Ukraine. He was a member of the Komsomol from 1983, worked in the Black Sea shipyards and was conscripted to the Soviet Army in 1987. Deployed to Afghanistan, his citation gives more detail:

'In the Republic of Afghanistan since November 1987. Took part in two combat operations and four convoy escorts. While conducting combat operations in the area of Gereshk, Helmand, on 28 January 1988, he acted as part of a recon patrol. Having spotted the patrol, insurgents knocked out his BMP with a shot from a grenade launcher. With cannon and machine gun fire, Bidashchuk began to cover the driver, who was attempting to repair the damage. He was mortally wounded in the battle.'

Bidashchuk was returned home and buried in his village, with a street being named in his honour; sold together with copied research including an image of the recipient.

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Sold for
£320

Starting price
£170