“When I saw the little Czechoslovak lion, tears were streaming down my face... Czechoslovakia exists after all! If I were told at that time: 'Go out there to die for Czechoslovakia,' I wouldn't say a word.”
Vasil Hajdur was born not far from Chust in Carpathian Ruthenia on July 24, 1919. He was enlisted to the Hungarian Army after the occupation of Carpathian Ruthenia. Since he was raised in Czechoslovakia, as he said, he didn't want to serve in the Hungarian Army. That was why he decided to flee to the Soviet Union.
He and four other guys crossed the border on July 15, 1940. They were arrested by the Soviet soldiers and they were sent to Poltava. Vasil Hajdur was sentenced there to three years for illegitimate crossing the border. Starting on January 15, 1941 he worked his sentence off in the Siberian labor camp Talica by the Irtysh river. He joined the Czechoslovak Army in January 1943. He was placed to I battalion, II infantry division and III troop. They left for the front on January 31, 1943. He got wounded twice during the Dukla operation. He was treated in Przemysl. After his healing he was transferred to II artillery troop where he served till the end of the war. After the war he studied a year course at the Real Grammar School in Prague. In 1946 he started his studies at the Military Academy in Hranice. He served in the Army until he retired.
