Yevdokiya Pasko

Yevdokiya Borisovna Pasko (Russian: Евдокия Борисовна Пасько; 30 December 1919 – 27 January 2017) was a navigator in the Soviet all-female 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, 325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, on the 2nd Belorussian Front during World War II. For her successes in the war, she was honored with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 26 October 1944.[1]

Yevdokiya Borisovna Pasko
Native name	Евдокия Борисовна Пасько
Born	30 December 1919 Jeti-Ögüz District, Issyk Kul Region, Turkestan ASSR (present day Kyrgyzstan)
Died	27 January 2017 (aged 97) Moscow, Russia
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Air Force
Years of service	1941–1945
Rank	Senior lieutenant
Unit	46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union

Early life

Pasko was born on 30 December 1919 to a Ukrainian family in Lipenko village of the Jeti-Ögüz District in the Issyk-Kul Region, located within present-day Kyrgyzstan in what was then the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. She was a student in the mathematics faculty at Moscow State University when the Russian authorities called for women volunteers to train as aviatrixes, and joined the military along with several of her fellow students, including Yekaterina Ryabova and Yevgeniya Rudneva, both of whom also became Heroes of the Soviet Union.[2][3]

Military career

Pasko became a navigator in the 49th Aviation Regiment, and later joined the all-female 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, also known as the Night Witches, where she served as a navigator for squadron commander Mariya Smirnova.[3]

During the war, she flew bombing missions against the Axis in Belarus, Berlin, Crimea, the Caucasus, the Kerch peninsula, Kuban, and Poland, often though extreme weather and heavy anti-aircraft fire. In total, she made approximately 800 sorties. On 26 October 1944, Pasko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, along with her colleague Smirnova, and her military feats were described in an article of the Pravda newspaper. She retired from the Soviet army with the rank of lieutenant after the end of the Second World War.[4][5]

Civilian life

After the war, Pasko returned to her studies and graduated with a Ph.D. in mathematics and married her colleague Boris Malyshev. She taught for over forty years at Bauman Moscow State Technical University.[5]

Pasko died on 27 January 2017 in Moscow, and was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.[6]

Awards and honors

• Hero of the Soviet Union (26 October 1944)
• Order of Lenin (26 October 1944)
• Order of the Red Banner (5 May 1943)
• Two Orders of the Patriotic War 1st Class (30 October 1943 and 11 March 1985)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (27 November 1980)
• Two Orders of the Red Star (9 September 1980 and 26 April 1944)
• campaign and jubilee medals

See also

• List of female Heroes of the Soviet Union
• Yevgeniya Rudneva
• Polina Gelman

References

1. Janina., Cottam, Kazimiera (1998). Women in war and resistance : selected biographies of Soviet women soldiers. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co. ISBN 1585101605. OCLC 228063546.
2. Pennington, Reina (2007-10-15). Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700615544.
3. "Пасько Евдокия Борисовна". airaces.narod.ru. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
4. Sakaida, Henry (2012-04-20). Heroines of the Soviet Union 1941–45. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781780966922.
5. "Пасько Евдокия Борисовна". www.warheroes.ru. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
6. ""ОФИЦЕРЫ РОССИИ" простились с фронтовиком, Героем Советского Союза Евдокией Борисовной Пасько". ОФИЦЕРЫ РОССИИ (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-04-17.