Polunina Maria Ivanovna (worker in the rear) was born on December 27, 1927 in the village of Koptevka, Ershovsky district, Saratov region. The family was very big: parents and ten children. Their life was nor very rich, but warm and friendly. The girl studied at a local school, graduated from three classes. When the war began, Maria Ivanovna was fourteen years old. Father was taken to the front. It was necessary to help the family, and the state farm did not have enough hands, so the girl went to work. She worked in a pigsty, looked after calves on a farm, helped adults on a vegetable plantation. After the end of the war, it became a little easier, men returned from the front, brigades began to work in the fields, they needed to be fed. Maria Ivanovna began working as a cook and worked until retirement in her chosen profession. The veteran was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"