Description
Hero of Socialist Labor #615
Awarded to Vasilisa Afanasyevna Gladysh (Василиса Афанасьевна Гладыш)
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 16, 1948, for high yields of wheat, rye, corn, and sugar beets in 1947
Made of solid 23 carat gold. It measures 31.83 mm in height including the eyelet, 30.05 mm in width and weighs 16.6 gram without its suspension. The text Герой Социалистического Труда (Hero of Socialist Labor) is located at the center of the reverse. This early variation has the serial number with large numbers at the 12 o’clock position. The suspension is authentic to the medal and measures 26.37 mm in width at his widest point and 21.73 in height at its narrowest point. The minimum know serial number of this variation is 85 and the maximum is 961 so less then 900 specimens are produced.
In well-preserved condition, with sharp details on the raised elements such as the reverse lettering and the edges of the hammer and sickle. Both sides display multiple dings and scratches, most noticeable on the lower right ray of the reverse. The suspension is period-correct, featuring its original rectangular backplate along with both the hexagonal and screwplate. The screwplate is a early variant, distinguished by a thick rim on its reverse – typical for this low serial number range. The connecting ring between the medal and suspension has been cut, and the screw remains full length.
A rare variation, hard to find
Short biography of Gladysh:
Vasilisa Afanasyevna Gladysh – team leader at the Andreev collective farm in Vinkovtsy District, Kamenets-Podolsky region, Ukrainian SSR.
Born in 1921 in the village of Veliky Alexandrov, Ushitsky uyezd, Podolsk province, Ukrainian SSR (now – Khmelnytskyi district, Khmelnytskyi region, Ukraine), into a peasant family. Ukrainian.
She began working in the late 1930s in the field brigade of the local collective farm. In the mid-1940s, she headed a team of field workers at the Andreev collective farm in Vinkovtsy district, Kamenets-Podolsky region, which in 1947 produced a rye yield of 30.03 centners per hectare over an area of 8 hectares.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 16, 1948, for high yields of wheat, rye, corn, and sugar beets in 1947, Vasilisa Afanasyevna Gladush was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Medal “Hammer and Sickle.”
The same decree awarded this high title to four other leading team leaders of the Andreev collective farm.
In the following years, under her leadership, the team continued to produce high yields of wheat and other crops.
She lived in her native village of Veliky Alexandrov, Vinkovtsy (since 2020 – Khmelnytskyi) district, Khmelnytskyi region. Date of death is unknown (presumably 1981).
Awarded the Order of Lenin (16.02.1948), medals.
Translation of the protocol:
Kyiv
February 27, 1948
In accordance with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 29, 1947, for achieving high yields of wheat, rye, corn, and sugar beets, for fulfilling the mandatory deliveries by collective farms, for payments in kind for the work of machine and tractor stations (MTS) in 1947, and for providing seeds of grain crops for spring sowing in 1948, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 16, 1948, awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor to leading figures in agriculture of the Ukrainian SSR.
By order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, M.S. Hrechukha, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR, presented the Order of Lenin and the Gold Medal “Hammer and Sickle” to the awardees.
More info on Gladysh can be found here and here
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