At one of the meetings I heard interesting information about a unique person, our fellow countryman VN Kochetkov.
Vasily Nikolaevich Kochetkov (1785-1892), “soldier of three emperors”, lived 107 years.
For 100 out of 107 years, Vasily Kochetkov was in active service.
Kochetkov's uniform was unique: the monograms of the three emperors, to whom the old campaigner swore allegiance, were intertwined on his shoulder straps. On the sleeve of the uniform in eight rows there were gold and silver stripes for length of service and distinction, and on the neck and chest 23 crosses and medals barely fit
Born in the Simbirsk province of the Kurmysh district in 1785. Kochetkov was a cantonist (a soldier's son). The cantonists were on the lists of the military department from the day they were born. He began to serve in 1811 on March 7th as a musician.
He fought the entire Patriotic War of 1812. Then, as part of the Pavlovsky Life Guards regiment, he fought with the Turks in the war of 1828-1829. Transferred to the Life Guards Horse Pioneer (Engineering) Division. In 1836, during the life of Pushkin, Vasily Kochetkov had already served the prescribed 25 years, but did not leave the army.
In 1843, a 58-year-old soldier finds himself in the Caucasus. He was instructed to use his outstanding military experience and teach soldiers to direct, strengthen and raise pontoon bridges on "fast rivers". Kochetkov was enrolled in the glorious Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon regiment. In the Caucasus, he was wounded three times: twice in both legs and through the neck. Badly wounded, unable to move, he is captured.
Having recovered, Kochetkov escapes from captivity, showing rare resourcefulness, foresight and courage. At 64, a seasoned soldier was promoted to officer by exam. VN Kochetkov refused epaulettes, his soldier's shoulder straps were dear to him, and two years later he retired, after 40 years of active service, at the age of 66.
In 1853, the so-called Crimean War began. Vasily Kochetkov asks to go to war and, in the ranks of the Kazan Jaeger Regiment, fights on the Kornilov Bastion, in the very inferno of the Sevastopol defense. Here he was wounded by an exploding bomb.
By personal decree of the tsar, who was already familiar with Vasily Nikolaevich, Kochetkov was again transferred to the guard and serves in the dragoons. Almost ten years have passed, and Vasily Nikolaevich Kochetkov submits a memorandum to the tsar and asks for "the highest permission" to go to war. So he ended up from the guard again in his favorite field army in the Turkestan cavalry artillery brigade with a first class fireworks. He was 78 years old.
For twelve years Kochetkov served in Central Asia and in 1874, by order of the sovereign, was transferred to the convoy of the imperial train.
In 1876, Serbia and Montenegro rebelled against the Turkish yoke. Five thousand Russian volunteers went to the aid of the fraternal Slavic peoples. Kochetkov again persuaded the tsar to let him go to war. "Serving" in his 92 years fought in the forefront, dragging volunteers with him.
He did not have time to rest in his homeland from military affairs, as the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 broke out. 93-year-old Kochetkov fought on Shipka as part of the 19th Cavalry Artillery Brigade.
On Shipka, Kochetkov lost his left leg from a bomb explosion. He survived and still served in the Life Guards Horse-Artillery Brigade and lived to be 107 years old. Vasily Nikolaevich Kochetkov died on May 31, 1892 in Vyborg.
Petersburg artist P. F. Borel made an engraving from a photographic portrait of Kochetkov. Filmed Vasily Nikolaevich 11 days before his death. Sits a hundred-year-old warrior in a guards uniform, resting his right hand on his knee, with calm dignity. A cigarette-roll sticks out between the fingers of his left hand, stuffed, I think, not with weak self-siege. 23 crosses and medals are on the award list of Vasily Kochetkov. On the left sleeve of the dark uniform there are eight stripes of gold and silver - patches for distinction in service. He served in four branches of the military. He fought in the infantry, cavalry, was a brave artilleryman, sharp-witted sapper. He embodied all the ground forces.
