Zenonas Gailiušis

Zenonas Gailiušis (1924–2013) was born in the village of Beržytė, Troškūnai Rural District, into a family of farmers. In 1944, he graduated from Panevėžys Boys’ Gymnasium. In the same year, he volunteered for the Lithuanian Territorial Defence Force under the command of General Povilas Plechavičius. From February to May 1944, he studied at Marijampolė Military School. After the occupation authorities closed the school, he joined a partisan unit in Troškūnai. In 1945, he studied at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Geography of the Vilnius State Pedagogical Institute. Zenonas Gailiušis also worked as an organist at St Johns’ Church. In 1945–1948, he studied medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius State University. From 1948 to 1959, he lived in exile as a political prisoner. In 1958, he graduated from the Leningrad Medical Institute. After being released from exile in 1959, he returned to Lithuania that same summer with his family and settled in Švenčionėliai (Švenčionys District). From 1959 to 1962, he worked as a physician at the local hospital. In Lithuania, he was granted the military rank of captain in the medical service. From 1963 until his death, he lived in Panevėžys.