Chumachenko Semyon Mikhailovich was born on September 25, 1926, in the village of Makarovka, Kalantchak District, Kherson Region. In April 1944, he was drafted into the Soviet Army being only 17 at the time. He underwent training in Sudak (Crimea) to become a member of a sapper reconnaissance party. A young, beardless boy who had just finished school, he was sent to the frontline after a short period of training. From November 1944, he fought in arduous battles to liberate Ukraine and Poland, participating in the Vistula-Oder offensive operation in early 1945. This operation involved the First Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal G.K. Zhukov) and the First Ukrainian Front (commanded by I.S. Konev), which encircled and delivered a crushing blow to the fascists.