He was drafted and sent near Leningrad on the western front:

“Leningrad was surrounded, there was a siege. Our task was to breach the siege. We didn’t have a chance to breach the siege until 2 years later. Our troops were attacking to breach the siege for 2 years. Finally after the Germans were defeated near Moscow and Kursk, they became so weak that they had to retreat”.

Semyon worked in artillery: “I was a private soldier, a plugman; I loaded shells into a plug. The division was equipped with small guns utilizing 3 kinds of shells; armour piercing shells, fire shells putting tanks on fire and shrapnel shells targeting infantry” Unable to break the Siege of Leningrad, Semion and the other soldiers would often sneak supplies into the city. He survived the winter but was wounded on March 10th 1942. After convalescing for 6 months, Semion was made a military driver and spent the remainder of the war transporting soldiers to and from the front lines.

Semyon worked as a mechanic in The Soviet Union before immigrating to Canada in 1975.