My grandfather Alexander Pavlovich Smirnov was born on August 23, 1922 in the village of Petrino, Cherepovets district of the Vologda Region. In 1938, he graduated from the 9th grade of the Ergolsk rural School (now the village of Voskresenskoye) and went to work as an Accountant at a creamery in the village of Petrino. In 1941 he was drafted into military service by the Petrinevsky Commissariat of the Vologda Region. He fought on the Leningrad front. He was a sub-machine gunner of a company of machine gunners of the 197th Guards Rifle Order of the Kutuzov Regiment, 64th Guards Rifle Krasnoselskaya Red Banner Division. He was wounded a few times. _x000D_ Combat awards: Medal "For Courage" 08/15/1944, order No. 029-N (for combat on 07/03/44 "….. when repelling an enemy counterattack, he was wounded, but did not leave the field battle… _x000D_ "Medal" For Courage "10/16/1944, order No. 035-N (for combat on 25.10.44 “… on the SYRVE peninsula he was the first to break into the enemy's trench and personally killed 3 German soldiers from a machine gun.. ", _x000D_ Medal" For Courage "03/09/1945, order No. 07-N,"… the Commander of the sub-machine gun company of the Guard, the Senior Sergeant for being in battle 24.2.45, in the area of the river VARTAYA, while repelling the counterattacks of infiltrated German sub-machine gunners, destroyed 4 German sub-machine gunners with machine gun fire and grenades… "_x000D_ Order" Red Star "05/21/1945, order No. 041-N,"… for combat in the area of the Vartaya River on 02/23/1945, when attacking the enemy trenches, he was the first to break into the trenches and destroy 7 German soldiers with machine gun fire, in the same battle, when the platoon commander came out of action, he boldly took over command, and a platoon under his command successfully completed the combat mission of forcing the river, where he destroyed the crew of a heavy machine gun and captured 2 enemy light machine guns. "_x000D_ Medal" For Courage "06/14/1945, order No. 021-N (for combat in the area of the river Vartai, Latvian SSR, 28.2.45, "… while repelling the enemy's counterattack with machine gun fire and grenades, he destroyed 4 German soldiers, was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield before completing the combat mission…". _x000D_ He was supposed to take part in the parade on Red Square in Moscow in June 1945, but was not able to attend due to illness. _x000D_ After the war, my grandfather worked as an Accountant at a dairy (village Petrino), then as a Chief Accountant at a creamery (Ustyuzhna, Molochnoe, Vologda Oblast). From 1951 until his retirement he was the Chief Accountant of the Kaliningrad regional production association of the dairy industry. Awards: medal "For Valiant Labor"; badge "Drummer of the 9th Five-Year Plan"; medal "Veteran of Labor". He loved reading a free time. He advised his granddaughters to read A Tale of the True Man. He loved Russian folk songs. He appreciated honesty in people. He hated lies, bragging, and insolence. He passed away on October 13, 1992 in Kaliningrad.