Rank: Senior Lieutenant, Pilot, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union_x000D_ _x000D_ Senior Lieutenant Vasily Vasilyevich Siroshtan, was one of the fighter pilots of the 512th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Warriors who gave their lives for the bright future of our Motherland will forever remain in the memory of the people. Vasily Siroshtan was born in 1918 in the village Malye Khutora (Small Farmsteads) of Vinnitsa Region in a large and friendly working class family. Before serving in the army, he graduated from the School of factory training (FZU), worked as a mechanic at an auto repair plant. At the front he had been since June 22, 1941. _x000D_ In a small letter at the beginning of the war, he wrote home that he had received a fighter and was eager to meet the enemy as soon as possible. He was married. His wife was called, like his mother, Anna. He had two daughters, Zina, born in 1938 and Valya, born in 1940. Co-workers said about Siroshtan that he had the soul of a poet. True, he did not write poetry, but he loved it very much and knew many poems, especially by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. In the village of Malye Khutora in Vinnytsia, where he was born, they appreciated a good word and a sincere folk song. There Vasily first heard Svetlov's "Grenada", which amazed the teenager. He knew it by heart and often read: "We rode at a pace, we raced in battles and held the song" Yablochko" in our teeth. Ah, this song is still kept by young grass of steppe malachite. " _x000D_ Vasily Siroshtan, being a Squadron Commander, knew how to organize work on the ground so that it would be easier to defeat the enemy in the air. He had excellent organizational skills and skillfully combined them with combat work, showing daily concern for his subordinates. For the entire period of work on the front of the Patriotic War, Siroshtan showed himself to be a fearless and decisive pilot, skillfully applying all military cunning in air combat. He flew 421 sorties. He flew I-16, Lagg-3 and Yak-1. He participated in 97 air battles, as a result of which he personally shot down 8 enemy aircraft and 6 in a group. He conducted 17 assault sorties along enemy columns and airfields (Poltava, Kharkov, Chuguev, Rogan), while personally lighting 2 enemy aircraft on the ground, destroyed or damaged 2 tanks, 14 vehicles with troops and cargo, 3 anti-aircraft guns, scattered or destroyed up to companies of enemy soldiers. He had made 103 sorties to escort attack aircraft, 22 to cover his troops and crossings, 58 Reconnaissance missions, of which 4 were special missions from the front command. He was a distinguished Soviet ace after two rams of enemy fighters. _x000D_ On September 1, 1941, the flight Commander, Lieutenant Siroshtan, flew to the I-16 to escort SB bombers heading to bomb a river crossing in the Kremenchug Region. Suddenly, a group of Me-109 appeared from behind the clouds. An air battle ensued. During the battle, Siroshtan came under fire from one Messerschmitt. The machine gun fire damaged the tail of his aircraft. Then he rushed down and cut off the Me-109 plane with the wing of his plane. Tumbling, he went to the ground on August 1, 1942, near Novoalekseevka, shot down another Me-109 enemy plane with a ramming strike and again remained alive. _x000D_ Siroshtan continuously taught young pilots how to fight the enemy and emerge victorious from the battle. The air battle was skillful and competent. With his fearlessness, courage and military exploits, he always inspired the entire personnel of the Regiment to destroy the fascist vultures. _x000D_ On 08/24/1942, heading the shock group for escorting attack aircraft, Art. Lieutenant Vasily Vasilievich. Siroshtan together with the young pilot led by Sergeant Nikolai V. Milovanov in the Davydovka area near Stalingrad entered into an unequal air battle with 12 enemy ME-109 aircraft. Covering the young pilot, the Commander bravely repelled the frantic attacks of German fighters. The air battle lasted about an hour, and even after the death of Nikolai Milovanov, the fearless falcon, without leaving the battlefield, continued to fight himself until an enemy bullet hit him in the head. “On this day, Vasily Siroshtan and the young pilot Nikolai Milovanov did not return to their airfield. At the head of the group, the Squadron Commander accompanied the Soviet Il-aircrafts.“Twelve Messerschmitts appeared,”he said on the radio at the command depot. The receiver caught the command: “I will take over the fight, the rest follow the course of the attack aircraft.”Then the abrupt: "Kolya, four to the left ..." "Attack, cover." "Like this". And again: "Closer to me ...", "Beat! ..", "Well done, Nikolai ..."_x000D_ For the courage and heroism shown in the battles with the Nazi invaders, the command of the 512th Fighter Aviation Regiment V.V. Siroshtan was twice presented to the highest state award with the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” (in 1941 and 1942). He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree (posthumously).