Measures 3 ½" x 4 ¾", printed on textured semi-gloss photo paper. The photo shows a Soviet Air Force Senior Lieutenant wearing his dress uniform. His decorations include Pilot Proficiency Wings 1st cl., three Orders of the Red Star, Order of the Patriotic War, Order of the Red Banner, the Sino-Soviet Friendship medal, and five Soviet medals including the medal for the Liberation of Warsaw and for the capture of Berlin. The military archival entry on the verso identifies the person on the photo as Semyon Ivanov, date of the photo (25 Aug. 1958), and bears the hand signature of the Chief

Measures 3 ½" x 4 ¾", printed on textured semi-gloss photo paper. The photo shows a Soviet Air Force Senior Lieutenant wearing his dress uniform. His decorations include Pilot Proficiency Wings 1st cl., three Orders of the Red Star, Order of the Patriotic War, Order of the Red Banner, the Sino-Soviet Friendship medal, and five Soviet medals including the medal for the Liberation of Warsaw and for the capture of Berlin. The military archival entry on the verso identifies the person on the photo as Semyon Ivanov, date of the photo (25 Aug. 1958), and bears the hand signature of the Chief of Staff of military unit #26349, and the unit's seal.

The photo is in very good condition. There is a small brown stain on the right lapel of the tunic. The lower right-hand corner of the photo shows a tiny scratch and a crease. None of the wear is too intrusive to the eye or detractive. The photo is in sharp focus allowing easy visual identification of the decorations.

Semyon Ivanov was born in 1921. In 1940, he joined the Red Army in the city of Khabarovsk in the Soviet Far East near the border with China.

Ivanov was a Yak-1 fighter pilot mostly flying missions protecting Il-2 Shturmovik ground attack airplanes. From August to October 1944, while participating in the operations of the 1st Belorussian Front, Ivanov flew 45 combat missions, took part in two dog fights and shot down two German airplanes. For that, he was awarded with an Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class.

His next decoration was the Order of the Red Banner, awarded for his outstanding performance from October 1944 to 9 May 1945: 19 aerial missions and 9 combat engagements supporting the Soviet Army operations during the battles of Warsaw and Berlin.

Ivanov's three subsequent orders, 1954 and 1956 Orders of the Red Star and 1957 Order of the Red Banner, do not have award commendations on the podvignaroda.ru website. Presumably, one of the Red Stars was awarded for length of service, a common practice in the Soviet Army at the time. As for the other Red Star and the 1957 Order of the Red Banner, seeing them next to the Sino-Soviet Friendship medal Ivanov is wearing is suggestive with near-certainty that they were for the Korean War.

Research Materials: photocopy of the award decrees for the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class and the 1945 Order of the Red Banner.

Please note that the penny in our photo is for size reference.
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