Zelenko Ivan Grigorievich was born on April 7, 1913 in Ukraine in the village of Rozumovka, Kirovograd region. He graduated from the Odessa Artillery and Technical School. From 1939 to 1940, Ivan Grigorievich participated in the Finnish-Soviet war. From the first day of the Great Patriotic War Ivan Grigorievich served as a captain at Murmansk in the Valley of Glory (Valley of Death). It was here, in 1941, that the rapid offensive of German troops, which were ordered to capture Murmansk, was stopped. Ivan Grigorievich was an artillery technician, commander of the department for repair of small arms and artillery equipment company technical support 181 Tank Znamensky regiment. Together with his colleagues, he carried out the repairs of tank and artillery equipment. As soon as something was out of order, the soldiers took their tool bags and headed for a tank or artillery installation that had been hit. The soldiers had to come under enemy fire to get to the place. More than once Ivan Grigorievich went back without his comrades. For four long years Ivan Grigorievich was being saved by his fate. According to official data of military archives during the confrontation on the banks of the Western Litsi more than 2000 people were killed. Ivan finished the war on the 4th Ukrainian front fighting in the South of Ukraine. He got married after the war and had a large family of six children. One of them was my grandfather. Ivan Grigorievich died on July 10, 1990.