DMITRY NIKANDROVICH PENYAZKOV
1922 – 2002
Hero of the Soviet Union
Dmitry NikandrovichPenyazkov was born in Gomel in a working-class family. He was drafted into the Red Army in July 1941. He participated in the Great Patriotic War from March 1943. Lieutenant Penyazkov commanded a platoon of the 358th Rifle Regiment when, on April 18, 1945, he was one of the first to cross the Oder near Schoeningen (south of Szczecin) and destroyed an enemy tank with grenades. The forward detachment, in which he was part, captured the bridgehead. On April 22, 1945, an assault on one of the important heights took place, and Penyazkov, the first to reach the top, set a red flag on it. Then, he was alone with machine gun, he held the height until the main forces of the company approached, and, despite being wounded, he did not leave the battlefield. On June 29, 1945, D. N. Penyazkov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Since 1947 – in the reserve. In 1950, he graduated from the Gomel Pedagogical College. Then, in 1951-1969, he continued his service in the Soviet Army, graduating from the military aviation technical school in 1960, he served in Ukraine and the Far East, in the group of Soviet troops in Germany. He commanded a company, was the commandant of a military school, deputy commander of one of the aviation units. In 1969, Penyazkov, having served for 25 years, with the rank of major, went back to the reserve, worked for more than a quarter of a century as the head of preparatory courses and the preparatory department at the Gomel branch of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute, which was eventually transformed into the Gomel State Technical University named by P. O. Sukhoi.
After retiring for a well-deserved rest, he took an active part in the veteran movement, was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of Gomel" in 1992, was awarded the Order "For Service to the Motherland" of the III degree, was enlisted as an honorary soldier in the first patrol company of the military unit 5525 of the internal troops of the republic. A memorial plaque to the Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry NikandrovichPenyazkov is installed in Gomel on the facade of the building of Secondary School No. 3 at 93 Barykin Street.
Awards: the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, the Order of the Red Star, medals.