My grandfather Vladimir Timoshenko was born in Ukraine in the village of Podlesnovka, Sumskoy Region, on December 03, 1925. His father, my great-grandfather Michael, was killed in fighting with the Ukrainian nationalists. In 1937, a mother with three children, fleeing from starvation, moved to Siberia in the small town of Yashkino in the Novosibirsk (now Kemerovo) Region. When the Great Patriotic War began, he was only 16 years old. By the age of 18, he graduated from the Novosibirsk Officer Courses and was sent to the front as a Second Lieutenant. He fought on the Kursk bulge near Prokhorovka, where the famous tank battle took place. The young officer commanded a squad whose task was to conduct reconnaissance behind the enemy lines, as well as take diversionary actions to confuse the fascists and distract them from attacking the main forces of the Russian Army. When the battle of Prokhorovka took place on July 12, 1943, the soldiers of the combat squad, being slightly away from the epicenter of the battle, created noise to confuse the enemy so that the blow to the main units was not so strong. This saved the lives of many of our soldiers. After such a fake attack, the soldiers lay down and waited for the reaction of the Germans. At this time, a German Tiger tank was already moving towards them. The muzzle of the Tiger was pointed in the direction of the fighters, but... fortunately, the aiming angle was not enough, and it fired at a nearby tree, which instantly shattered into splinters. Shrapnel shells wounded my grandfather, he received multiple wounds, and one fragment was near his heart. He lost consciousness. Some time later, when the shooting subsided, the wounded soldier was picked up by an old local woman. She dragged him to her house and hid there. When the attack began, and our troops entered the village, she told them that she had a wounded officer in her house. My grandfather was sent to a military hospital. The injuries were multiple, as a result of which he underwent many surgeries and was treated there for a long time, but the fragment that was near his heart could not be extracted. He passed with it all his life. After the battle of Prokhorovka, my grandfather was awarded the Order of the Red Star and medals for his military services. After the war, he moved to the city of Kemerovo and served In the Department for combating banditry. Then, served in the Regional military enlistment office, he accompanied conscripts to the Far East. After a while, he became a Director of the Central Stadium in Kemerovo. In 1954, by order of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, he received the rank of Lieutenant. With his wife, my grandmother, Maria, they lived together for 50 years, raised two wonderful sons, one of them is my father. With their difficult life and honest work for the good of the Motherland, they set an example to their grandchildren, and even managed to rejoice at their great-granddaughter. My grandfather died on February 23, 1995, on Defender of the Fatherland Day. I will always keep the memory of my grandfather a true Defender of the Motherland.