Josef Buršík

Josef Buršík (11 September 1911 – 30 June 2002) was a Czech resistance fighter, general, dissident, and political prisoner. During World War II, while fighting with the First Czechoslovak Independent Field Battalion (''1. československý samostatný polní prapor''), later reorganized as the First Czechoslovak Independent Brigade (''1. československá samostatná brigáda'') he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war Buršík was persecuted by the communist authorities in Czechoslovakia. He was imprisoned and stripped of all his wartime decorations, except for the Hero of the Soviet Union award. Buršík managed to escape and made his way to the west. He lived first in West Germany, then the United Kingdom. He was active in organizations working to help Czech and Slovak refugees. He published his memoirs "No pity for sacrifice" (''Nelituj oběti'') in the 1950s.

After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968 Buršík returned his Hero of the Soviet Union medal in protest.

Despite ongoing health problems in his later years, he lived until the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia (later the Czech Republic) and was officially "rehabilitated" and given an honorary promotion to the rank of Major General in the Czech Army. He was also awarded the Order of the White Lion and the Milan Rastislav Stefanik Order.

He died in 2002 in Northampton, England and was buried with full military honours. His grandson of the same name is a professional footballer who plays for Club Brugge and England U21. Provided by Wikipedia