“As the battery gun were on horse traction we weren’t allowed to sit on gun’s boxes, only the “coach” was allowed to be in the coachman’s seat. We quickly marched 40 to 60 kilometers a day We were on the go all the time dislodging the enemy from the hills and weapon emplacements. That’s what the war was like. We liberated the North Korean territory from the Japanese occupants.”

Zinvoly carried a gun but did not fire mortars:

“I was to provide communication between the battery command and the weapon placements. The battery was in one location; the battery commander was defining the target at an observation post in another location. The battery was firing while we were adjusting the fire, doing the spotting for mortars. Personally… that was just a normal, a regular military service, making sure the enemy would be defeated”.

After the war, Zinoviy spent 5 more years in the army. He encountered numerous cases of institutional antisemitism in Ukraine while trying to finish school and eventually immigrated to Canada.