We have been keeping the memory of the Great War of the 20th century and its heroes for more than 70 years. We pass it on to our children and grandchildren, trying not to lose a single fact or surname. Almost every family was affected by this event; many fathers, brothers, husbands never returned. Today we can find information about them thanks to the painstaking work of military archives staff and volunteers who devote their free time to searching for soldiers’ graves. How to do this, how to find a WWII participant by last name, information about his awards, military ranks, place of death? We could not ignore such an important topic, we hope that we can help those who are looking and want to find.
Losses in the Great Patriotic War
It is still unknown exactly how many people left us during this great human tragedy. After all, the counting did not begin immediately; only in 1980, with the advent of glasnost in the USSR, historians, politicians, and archive staff were able to begin official work. Until this time, scattered data that were beneficial at that time were received.
- After celebrating Victory Day in 1945, J.V. Stalin said that we had buried 7 million Soviet citizens. He spoke, in his opinion, about everyone, both about those who died during the battle and about those who were taken prisoner by the German occupiers. But he missed a lot, did not say about the rear employees who stood at the machine from morning until night, falling dead from exhaustion. I forgot about the sentenced saboteurs, traitors to the motherland, ordinary residents and siege survivors of Leningrad who died in small villages; missing persons. Unfortunately, they can be listed for a long time.
- Later L.I. Brezhnev provided different information, he reported 20 million dead.
Today, thanks to the decoding of secret documents and search work, the numbers are becoming real. Thus, you can see the following picture:
- Combat losses received directly at the front during battles amount to about 8,860,400 people.
- Non-combat losses (from illnesses, wounds, accidents) - 6,885,100 people.
However, these figures do not yet correspond to complete reality. War, and such a war, is not only the destruction of the enemy at the cost of one’s own life. These are broken families - unborn children. This is a huge loss of the male population, thanks to which it will not soon be possible to restore the balance necessary for good demography.
These are diseases, hunger in the post-war years and death from it. This is rebuilding the country again, again in many ways, at the cost of people’s lives. All of them also need to be taken into account when doing calculations. All of them are victims of terrible human vanity, whose name is war.
How to find a participant in the Great Patriotic War 1941 - 1945 by last name?
There is no better memory for the stars of victory than the desire of the future generation to know. The desire to save information for others, to avoid such repetition. How to find a WWII participant by last name, where to find possible information about grandfathers and great-grandfathers, fathers who took part in battles, knowing their last name? Especially for this purpose, there are now electronic repositories that everyone can access.
- obd-memorial.ru - here contains official data containing reports of units about losses, funerals, trophy cards, as well as information about rank, status (died, was killed or disappeared, where), scanned documents.
- moypolk.ru is a unique resource containing information about home front workers. The very ones without whom we would not have heard the important word “Victory”. Thanks to this site, many have already been able to find or help find lost people.
The work of these resources is not only to search for great people, but also to collect information about them. If you have any, please report it to the administrators of these sites. In this way, we will do a great common cause - we will preserve memory and history.
Archive of the Ministry of Defense: search by last name of WWII participants
Another one is the main, central, largest project - https://archive.mil.ru/. The documents preserved there are mostly isolated and remained intact due to the fact that they were taken to the Orenburg region.
Over the years of work, CA staff have created an excellent reference apparatus showing the contents of archival accumulations and funds. Now its goal is to provide people with access to possible documents through electronic computing technology. Thus, a website has been launched where you can try to find a military man who participated in the Second World War, knowing his last name. How to do it?
- On the left side of the screen, find the “memory of the people” tab.
- Indicate his full name.
- The program will give you the available information: date of birth, awards, scanned documents. Everything that is in the files for a given person.
- You can set a filter on the right, selecting only the sources you want. But it's better to choose everything.
- On this site it is possible to look at military operations on a map and the path of the unit in which the hero served.
This is a unique project in its essence. There is no longer such a volume of data collected and digitized from all existing and available sources: card indexes, electronic memory books, medical battalion documents and command directories. In truth, as long as such programs and the people who provide them exist, the memory of the people will be eternal.
If you didn’t find the right person there, don’t despair, there are other sources, maybe they’re not as large-scale, but that doesn’t make them any less informative. Who knows in which folder the information you need might be lying around.
Participants of the Second World War: search by last name, archive and awards
Where else can you look? There are more narrowly focused repositories, for example:
- dokst.ru. As we said, those who were captured also became victims of this terrible war. Their fate may be displayed on foreign websites like this one. Here in the database there is everything about Russian prisoners of war and the burials of Soviet citizens. You only need to know the last name, you can look at the lists of captured people. The Documentation Research Center is located in the city of Dresden, and it was he who organized this site to help people from all over the world. You can not only search the site, but also send a request through it.
- Rosarkhiv archives.ru is an agency that is an executive authority that keeps records of all government documents. Here you can make a request either online or by phone. A sample electronic appeal is available on the website in the “appeals” section, left column on the page. Some services here are provided for a fee; a list of them can be found in the “archive activities” section. With this in mind, be sure to ask whether you will need to pay for your request.
- rgavmf.ru - a naval reference book about the destinies and great deeds of our sailors. In the “orders and applications” section there is an email address for processing documents left for storage after 1941. By contacting the archive staff, you can get any information and find out the cost of such a service; most likely it is free.
WWII awards: search by last name
To search for awards and feats, an open portal has been organized, dedicated specifically to this www.podvignaroda.ru. Information is published here about 6 million cases of awards, as well as 500,000 unawarded medals and orders that never reached the recipient. Knowing the name of your hero, you can find a lot of new things about his fate. The posted scanned documents of orders and award sheets, data from registration files, will complement your existing knowledge.
Who else can I contact for information about awards?
- On the website of the Central Election Commission of the Ministry of Defense, in the section “Awards are looking for their heroes,” a list of awarded soldiers who did not receive them was published. Additional names can be obtained by phone.
- rkka.ru/ihandbook.htm - encyclopedia of the Red Army. It published some lists of the assignment of senior officer ranks and special ranks. The information may not be as extensive, but existing sources should not be neglected.
- https://www.warheroes.ru/ is a project created with the aim of popularizing the exploits of the defenders of the Fatherland.
A lot of useful information, which sometimes is not found anywhere, can be found on the forums of the above sites. Here people share valuable experiences and tell their own stories that can help you too. There are many enthusiasts who are ready to help everyone in one way or another. They create their own archives, conduct their own research, and can also be found only on forums. Don't shy away from this type of search.
WWII veterans: search by last name
- oldgazette.ru is an interesting project created by ideological people. A person who wants to find information enters data, it can be anything: full name, name of awards and date of receipt, line from a document, description of an event. This combination of words will be calculated by search engines, but not just on websites, but in old newspapers. Based on the results, you will see everything that was found. Maybe this is where you will be lucky, you will find at least a thread.
- It happens that we search among the dead and find among the living. After all, many returned home, but due to the circumstances of that difficult time, they changed their place of residence. To find them, use the website pobediteli.ru. This is where people searching send letters asking for help in finding their fellow soldiers, random encounters during the war. The project's capabilities allow you to select a person by name and region, even if he lives abroad. If you see it on these lists or similar, you need to contact the administration and discuss this issue. Kind, attentive staff will definitely help and do everything they can. The project does not interact with government organizations and cannot provide personal information: telephone number, address. But it is quite possible to publish your search request. More than 1,000 people have already been able to find each other this way.
- 1941-1945.at Veterans do not abandon their own. Here on the forum you can communicate, make inquiries among the veterans themselves, perhaps they have met and have information about the person you need.
The search for the living is no less relevant than the search for dead heroes. Who else will tell us the truth about those events, about what they experienced and suffered. About how they greeted victory, the very first, the most expensive, sad and happy at the same time.
Additional sources
Regional archives were created throughout the country. Not so large, often standing on the shoulders of ordinary people, they have preserved unique single records. Their addresses are on the website of the movement to perpetuate the memory of the victims. And:
- https://www.1942.ru/ - “Seeker”.
- https://iremember.ru/ - memories, letters, archives.
- https://www.biograph-soldat.ru/ - international biographical center.
You tell me: “Why look?
Those who were killed here have long disappeared,
Those who could have been waiting for them have also left,
And all of them have long been forgotten..."
From the song of the search engines
Almost every family in our country has relatives who went missing during the Great Patriotic War. Some scattered information is kept in the family, some still have photographs. But when you see the name of a loved one in a report from the Memorial base, for example, for some reason you more clearly imagine a train under fire, trenches... And it seems that if you find out at least something else, your soldier will not be so lonely in his unknown grave. And you hope that the soldiers who have not returned will not be left without prayers.
Dmitry Aleksandrovich Belov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Director of the Research Center for Regional History of the Volgograd State Academy of Postgraduate Education, Vice-President of the International Charitable Foundation “Battle of Stalingrad” told “Foma” about where and how to look for information about the burial place of a soldier of the Great Patriotic War "
STEP 1. WHERE TO START
The fastest way to find your relative who died in the Great Patriotic War is the generalized Memorial data bank, the database of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO):
For this:
1. We go to the website of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, where the most complete electronic database in our country of those killed in the Second World War is located: www.obd-memorial.ru
2. Fill in the columns “Last name”, “First name”, “Patronymic name”, “Year of birth” of your deceased relative:
3. Ideally, we get a result of several lines with more or less complete information and continue to study the materials towards specifying the exact location of the burial.
4. In the surname or first name, or patronymic, we change the letters, selecting them in such a way as if they were written by an illiterate person or the original document is poorly readable and there are alternative reading options. And you may come across additional documents from the archive's database.
At this stage of the search, to begin with, a last name, first name, patronymic, year of birth, preferably a title is enough. If he is Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, then, of course, it will be more difficult. You have to be persistent to make sure that this is exactly the person you need, you will need details - full name of wife, mother, name of the village, city where he was called from, place of birth (in accordance with the administrative-territorial division of the USSR in the pre-war years - approx. ed.).
It is worth paying special attention to the fourth point. There are some really stupid spelling mistakes in the database. My great-grandfather's name was Andrei Kirillovich. I wrote “Kirillovich” like a normal person with two letters, and then I thought that not everyone knows how to spell Kirillovich...
Kirillovich typed with one “l” and immediately found the burial place. Also Filippovich - maybe Filippovich, and with one “p”, and so on. It is also better to try to change the letters in both the surname and first name in case they were written by an illiterate person or the original document is difficult to read. Such moments must be taken into account.
Ideally, the result of your search should be a document about the burial place of a relative and information in which military unit (army, division or regiment) he fought.
If there is no information, one can hope that the search teams that are looking for and burying the remains of soldiers will find something. If the search engines managed to find someone, they contact the military registration and enlistment office and look for relatives themselves.
But you can continue the search on your own. In this case, it is necessary to collect the maximum possible amount of information in order to begin a qualitatively new stage of the search.
What can help us with this?
STEP 2. COLLECT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Have the letters survived?
The most important thing in letters is the number of the field postal station (FPS) on the stamp of the envelope. You can use it to determine the number of a division, regiment, etc.
A powerful resource: a lot of documents on military topics, memoirs, collections. If the division number and the fighting area are known, then you can at least find a description in general terms.
Database "Feat of the People"
TsAMO project.
This is a database where there is information about soldiers awarded medals. The database is not complete yet, not all documents have been scanned yet.
This resource has several hospital databases. Dial the hospital number, press Enter and see which division it served.
And there are many more reference books on types of troops, shoulder straps, and weapons.
But the most valuable thing is on Soldat.ru forum http://soldat.ru/forum/
If you register on it, you can get advice from completely unfamiliar historians, specialists, anyone who is interested in searching, and military registration and enlistment office employees.
To register, at the top of this site (see the lower right corner in the picture above), you need to click the “Registration” button. Next you need to fill out the registration form.
Then create a topic (it’s better to name it briefly, for example, “No.__-th Infantry Division. I’m looking for a relative”). After this, your request will be able to be read by anyone who visits this site. Do not doubt! There will be enough such strangers and caring people. Everyone will help you with the information they have. Some will answer, advise, consult, others will recommend sites, scan the documents you need, excerpts from books, etc.
Other resources
There are many more resources that publish interviews with veterans and biographies. But it is worth considering that these sources, as a rule, do not represent historical value either for the researcher or for those who want to use this material in their search.
We all know from childhood how destructive and bitter the Great Patriotic War was for the entire Soviet people. The war, which claimed the lives of more than 26 million of our compatriots, still echoes the tragedy in many families, because not only those who lost their fathers and mothers are still alive, but even those who met the enemy with weapons in their hands.
The number of missing people alone after the war was estimated at almost 5 million people. To date, despite all efforts, it has been possible to clarify the fate of only 1 million people, of whom 500 thousand died under unclear circumstances, and the other 500 thousand remained abroad. The fate of more than 3 million people remains unclear.
Today, not only the surviving veterans are elderly, but also their children. In this regard, the main share of those who are now searching for the missing or simply want to learn about the military path of their relatives are the grandchildren of war participants.
How can I find out where my grandfather fought by his last name?
Recently, many resources have appeared on the Internet to help with searching for information about veterans, their combat journey or burial places; all this was achieved thanks to the digitization of a huge amount of paper archival data.
You can start from the website obd-memorial.ru is an electronic database of the central archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO), contains a large number of records about the dead soldiers of the Red Army in the Second World War. On it you can find where your grandfather fought by last name, first name, patronymic and year of birth.
If the search does not produce results, you should definitely try changing some letters, especially if the surname is difficult to pronounce or enter one consonant when it is correct to write double ones, for example, replacing “Filippovich” with “Filippovich”. Often the data was filled in with errors and was difficult to read; you need to take this into account and try to enter data into the search engine with appropriate amendments.
On the site moypolk.ru contains information not only about the dead, but also about the missing and survivors of the war; the database is still being replenished with the help of participants in the “Immortal Regiment” action. On it you can also find out where your grandfather fought in the Second World War and about his future fate by last name, first name and patronymic.
If your grandfather went missing, then he could well be among the prisoners of war, since more than 4.5 million people were captured by the Germans during the entire war. Information about those killed in German concentration camps is available on the website dokst.ru
During the search, you may more than once encounter full namesakes, so it is very important to collect as much information as possible in the family about where you were born, where you were drafted, whether there are front-line photographs (by insignia you can establish rank and approximate time, by uniform - branch of the military).
It is worth noting that the names of many settlements have changed since then. In order to find out exactly what those areas were called during the war, you need to use historical reference books.
You definitely need to look for letters from the front; the envelopes were marked with the number of the field postal station, by which you can determine the number of the military unit. Information on postal numbers of those years and their correspondence can be obtained in directories on the website soldat.ru/spravka/ . On the site's forum you can also take advantage of the advice of experienced search engines on how to find out where your grandfather fought.
Not everything is known about the war yet.
Not all the pages have been written yet.
And time increases in value.
So we need to hurry up, friends!
The attack on the Soviet Union was the most serious crime of imperialism in its entire atrocity-filled history. The only question was: if Nazi Germany wins, the world will be thrown back to the darkest times of the past; if the USSR wins, the people of the Earth will be saved from complete destruction, and the road to further progress will open before them. This is exactly how the Soviet and party leadership explained to the Soviet people and the entire world community the complexity of the current situation after the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR.
The whole country rose up to fight the enemy. The bloody battles with superior forces of Hitler's hordes, which were waged by the Red Army, were imbued with the greatest, unparalleled heroism. From the heights of the past years, it is clearly visible today that the role and significance of those battles turned out to be much greater than they were seen then. It was on those heroic and tragic frontiers of the forty-first year that the greatest trials passed, the personnel forces of the Soviet army were strengthened, and matured. Our Motherland suffered huge losses. The roads of retreat were difficult and tragic, the grief of the loss of dear and close people was immeasurable. At the cost of incredible efforts and sacrifices, the hours and days the country needed for the speedy mobilization and deployment of its forces were won.
The Soviet army fought on a huge front from the ice of the Arctic to the Black Sea. Russian soldiers shaded every inch of land with their hearts, not sparing blood and life. History has never known such an impulse, such unanimity with which the Soviet people stood up to defend their Motherland. “The Motherland is in danger!”, “The Motherland is calling!”, “Everything for the front, everything for victory over the enemy!” - these are the main aspirations of the Soviet people at the front and in the rear.
If you take a look at the entire course of the Great Patriotic War, you can trace the main stages along which the Soviet people ascended to their world-historic victory: the defeat of fascist troops near Moscow, which buried Hitler’s plan for a “blitzkrieg” war. Victory of the Soviet army in the grandiose Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of the Caucasus. Defeat of enemy troops on the Kursk Bulge and on the Dnieper. Complete expulsion of fascist invaders from the territory of the USSR. Deliverance from fascist domination of the peoples of Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland. Finally, victory over the fascist coalition, crowned by the Red Banner hoisted over the Reichstag in Berlin, and the crushing defeat of the Japanese Kwantung Army. The long-awaited victory came at a very high price, at the cost of millions of human lives, soldiers and officers who did not return from the battlefield, including our grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
Childhood. Adolescence. Youth
My grandfather Semyon Ivanovich Chebakov was born on January 22, 1914 in the village of Pizipovo, Alikovsky District, Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, into the family of a middle peasant. Long before the Great Patriotic War, he graduated from 4th grade in the neighboring village of Yuskassy, and then continued his studies at the Chuvash-Sorma school. During 1927 - 1929, grandfather studied in Cheboksary, at the school of metalworkers' school. After which his independent work began: from 1930 to 1933, Semyon Ivanovich worked as a builder at the Molotov Automobile Plant in the city of Gorky. Then, from 1933 to 1937, my grandfather worked hard at the same plant, but now as a mechanic - mechanic. And in 1938 he entered the Gorky School of Mechanics of MTS, after graduating in 1940, my grandfather began working as a mechanic.
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, in the period from 1940 to 1941, my grandfather Chebakov S.I. was a cadet of the regimental school 21 OPMB (Kiev military registration and enlistment office). After that, he took advanced training courses for Red Army command personnel in the city of Leningrad together with his brother Pyotr Ivanovich.
Chebakov Semyon Ivanovich, 1937
When the Great Patriotic War began, my grandfather turned 27 years old. On October 12, 1941, he and his brother went to the front to defend their homeland from the enemy. My grandfather beat the Nazis until the Victory, and went through a difficult battle path. From 1941 to 1943, he served as commander of a repair platoon section of the 64th Brigade on the Fourth Ukrainian Front. Then, from 1943 to 1946, he was the commander of a section of Park Platoon No. 9 of the VIMPMB on the Second Belorussian Front.
Unfortunately, my grandfather’s brother Pyotr Ivanovich Chebakov did not reach the great Victory; in 1944 he went missing.
The usual festive fireworks -
The capital celebrates the victory,
But veterans will be recognized
By orders, not by persons.
And the pain of war, already alien,
Is it close or far to my grandchildren?
He is not dead, not alive.
Listed as missing.
They, who defended the country,
Her Victory was not recognized.
They met the war
And in forty-four they detained me.
"With an unknown fate" -
The news arrived in an envelope.
He is not dead, not alive,
He is a man without a date of death.
Difficult steps towards the great Victory...
Our fellow countrymen are participants in the war. Chebakov Semyon Ivanovich (second from left)
My grandfather Semyon Ivanovich Chebakov was a participant in various operations during the Great Patriotic War. But from the stories of my parents, I know that when my grandfather remembered the war, he was very worried, tears welled up in his eyes. Therefore, relatives tried not to bother their grandfather, a front-line soldier, with difficult memories. I was born 13 years after my grandfather’s death, which means I did not have the opportunity to communicate with him personally. It's a pity! Therefore, while studying the history of the Great Patriotic War, I became acquainted with special interest in those battles, engagements, and military operations in which my grandfather could have participated as part of the Soviet troops of the Second Belarusian Fourth Front.
“Belarusian Operation” (June 23 - August 29, 1944), which was one of the largest strategic offensive operations during the Great Patriotic War. The Belarusian liberation operation took place under the code name “Bagration”. The goal of the operation is the defeat of the Nazi Army Group Center and the liberation of Belarus with subsequent access to the territories of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Four fronts took part in the offensive: First Baltic, First Belorussian, Second Belorussian and Third Belorussian. During the Belarusian operation, Soviet troops liberated all of Belarus, most of Lithuania and Latvia, entered the territory of Poland and advanced to the borders of East Prussia. I am proud that my grandfather also took part in this bloody military operation, which means he also contributed to the great common Victory over the enemy!
Chebakov Semyon Ivanovich (left) 1952 city of Zapeschiki (former Bessarabia)
Studying the history of the Great Patriotic War, I learned that in January 1944, Soviet troops launched a new offensive by the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, as a result of which the blockade of Leningrad was finally lifted. And in April 1944, the forces of the First, Second and Third Ukrainian Fronts liberated Right Bank Ukraine and Odessa. In May 1944, the Fourth Ukrainian Front captured Crimea, the Second and Third Ukrainian Fronts successfully carried out the Iasi-Kishinev operation, defeated the troops of the Southern Ukraine group and liberated Chisinau. This brilliant victory gave impetus to the beginning of the liberation uprising in Bucharest and Romania's exit from the fascist bloc. The occupation was lifted by the forces of the Second Ukrainian Front in September 1944.
It is known that from the middle of the summer of 1944, Soviet units were already conducting military operations on the territory of Romania and Poland, liberating these countries from fascist occupation and establishing pro-Soviet regimes there. And in January 1945, earlier than planned, the Vistula-Oder operation of the Soviet army began. On March 10, Soviet troops crossed the Oder and found themselves 80 km from Berlin. By mid-April 1945, the main groupings of German troops were defeated on the Soviet-German front. Yugoslavia, the eastern part of Czechoslovakia, Austria, Bulgaria and Romania were liberated from fascist occupation. Pressed on all sides by the Soviet Army and Allied troops, the remnants of the German army were doomed. On April 25, 1945, troops of the Soviet fronts converged in the Potsdam area and surrounded the 300,000-strong Berlin enemy group. The rapid offensive of the Soviet units, advancing with battles and with heavy losses to envelop the capital of the Reich, was also dictated by political considerations. After bloody battles on May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison capitulated. Late in the evening of May 8, 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany was signed. On May 9, 1945, Soviet troops liberated Prague. The war in Europe is over. On September 2, 1945, after the surrender of militaristic Japan, World War II ended.
Certificate (medal “For Victory over Germany”)
A page from my grandfather's Order Book
The price of victory is very high...
Indeed, the price of victory was enormous. A third of the country's national wealth was destroyed. Cities, villages and towns were destroyed. A huge number of plants, factories, mines, and many kilometers of railway lines were destroyed. Several million Soviet people died on the battlefields, in concentration camps, in occupied territories, in besieged Leningrad, and in the rear. The USSR lost 27 million people.
Notice of the missing brother of Chebakov Pyotr Ivanovich
A funeral was flying from the front
On a young boy
And he was still lying in the crater...
Oh, how merciless war is!
And tanks passed by...
Someone else's speech... and he lay there,
And I remembered my sister and mother,
He lay there and died quietly.
The chest was pierced right through,
And the blood flowed into the black snow,
And he, with blue eyes,
I met my last dawn.
No, he didn't cry, he smiled,
And I remembered my home,
And overcoming the pain, he stood up,
And it was difficult to lift the machine gun...
The heart remembers, will never forget...
After the war, my grandfather Semyon Ivanovich Chebakov wanted to continue to serve his Motherland, but in May 1946 he was demobilized from the army due to illness. He was awarded the rank of First Lieutenant. My grandfather has the following awards: medal “For Victory over Germany” (No. 0268504), Order of the Red Star (No. 2719433), as well as anniversary medals. All of them are now stored in our family archive. And every year on the day of the Great Victory we remember our grandfather, looking at his military awards, photographs and mentally talking to him.
Grandfather has medals
They gave them to him for his bravery.
He then went on reconnaissance
And he shot at the Nazis accurately.
I was at the front during that war,
Defended my country!
In the post-war period from 1947 to 1957, grandfather worked in the Alikovsky district as a tax inspector. In 1948, on July 22, he married Tamara Aristarkhovna. They raised four children, gave them an education, and put them on their feet. Until the end of his life, my grandfather Semyon Ivanovich worked as the chairman of a collective farm in the village of Pizipovo, Alikovsky district. Many old-timers of our village still remember him with respect. Semyon Ivanovich died in 1984. But he continues to live in our memory and in our hearts. I want to say not only to my grandfather, but to all participants in the Great Patriotic War: " Thank the granfather for the victory!"
Great events do not fade, going into the depths of history. Their meaning is revealed more and more fully over time. And today, decades after the end of the Great Patriotic War, we read with unflagging interest every line telling about the heroism, courage of a private or a general, and with spiritual trepidation we get acquainted with the documents, memories and relics that have come down to us. We must know everything, remember everything. The exploits of older generations are the immortal legacy of the young. The glorious names of those who fearlessly, not sparing their lives and blood, walked towards the lead rain, liberating their fatherland, saving the peoples of other countries from the fascist yoke, will never be erased in our memory. They will forever shine in the heroic chronicle of our country, showing new and new generations an example of great love for the Fatherland and hatred of its enemies.
Monument to those killed and missing in action during the war (village of Pizipovo. There are 109 names, among them Semyon Ivanovich’s brother, Pyotr Ivanovich).