Rank: Captain. Military branch: aviation. Biography of veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Our father, Ivan S. Tverdokhleb, graduated from the Stalingrad pilot school in August of 1943 and was sent as a pilot to the front to the 611 Peremyshel Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment order of Suvorov . He was born on May 5, 1922 in the village of Vyhvatnovtsy, Kamianets-Podilsky district, Khmelnytsky region, in the Ukraine in a family of farmers. He graduated from high school in 1939. He went to work as a mathematics teacher and a year later, on August 21, 1940, he entered the Stalingrad pilot school. On the day of the October revolution, November 7, 1940, he took an oath. In August of 1943 he went to the front. He was only 21 at that time. Two months later he was appointed senior pilot. He fought on the Southern, on the 1st, on the 3rd, on the 4th Ukrainian Fronts. He was a first-class fighter pilot. His total flight time was more than 1000 hours. Dad mastered the following aircrafts: PO-2, Ut-2, Uti-2, Uti-4, I-6, Yak-1, Yak-7, Yak-9. His Aviation regiment was a cover regiment. The main task of the regiment was to accompany the bomber planes during their flights, so that they could bomb the positions of the Nazis and return to the home airfield. The discipline of the battle formation during such tasks was very important. He managed to destroy 11 fascist planes without breaking the battle formation. From the stories of my father's combat friend Valentin Rimar, we happened to hear about my own father a story that he has never told us.... In 1977, we had a chance to go to the Ukraine to visit my grandmother Feodosia and grandfather Semyon, and on the way we stopped in Kiev at my father's friend’s house. He told us how in one battle my father's plane was shot down and my father had to jump out of the burning plane. He yanked on the parachute ring. While opening the parachute canopy, one of the slings wrapped around my father's neck, but he did not hesitate, took out a knife and cut off the parachute slings, instantly pulled the ring of the spare parachute and landed safely. In the photo the father is with his friend Valentin from Kiev. Our father had a chance to participate in the battles for the liberation of the Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria. During his service in the Armed Forces, he was repeatedly awarded. For military exploits dad was twice awarded the combat Order of the Red Star, twice was awarded the order "Patriotic War of II class", medal "For military merit", medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", medal "20 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic war 1941-1945", medal "30 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic war 1941-1945", medal "For the liberation of Belgrade" medal "For the capture of Budapest" medal "For the capture of Vienna". The Minister of the national Assembly of Bulgaria, my father was awarded the medal of the "Great Patriotic war of 1944-1945". Also on August 14, 1948, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded him the medal "XXX years of Soviet Army and Navy" medal "50 years Armed forces of the USSR", medal "60 years of the USSR Armed Forces", medal "40 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic war of 1941-1945". Many of the deeds committed by our people during the great Patriotic war. Finding all the information about our fathers and grandfathers is not an easy task. The website "Feat of the people" was created on the Internet pages. I tried to find all the information about our father's military campaigns, but so far I found only two documents on awarding two orders of the red Star on the site. The commander of the regiment in which my father served wrote the book "I See the enemy", which was published in Kiev in 1981. Uzbek and Ukrainian TV made three films about the heroic deeds of aviators. I want to tell you about another episode that occurred in the regiment where our father fought. These are the memoirs of a member of the Council of veterans of the 611 Fighter Aviation Regiment, fighter pilot L. Arkov. This heroic act took place on January 13, 1943 in the area of the village of Labinskaya, in the Kuban. In an air battle a fellow soldier pilot Nikolai Evseev was shot down. His plane crashed into the territory occupied by Nazi troops. Anatoly Kuksin, who was flying with him in a pair, landed on his I-153 plane next to the friend who was in trouble. Literally in front of the enemies, he took Evseev on the wing and rose into the air, saving the life of the comrade. The Nazis opened a hurricane of fire, but the plane did not get a single hole, successfully soared up and after a while landed safely at its airfield. I am sure that our children and grandchildren will be very interested in learning more about their grandparents by looking at photos of the war years. Below is a copy from the site "Feat of the people" about some of the military affairs of our father Ivan Semyonovich Tverdokhleb. Dad was lucky enough to be at the forefront of the Red Army to liberate his native places, where he was born, studied, and from where he volunteered for the army. For his military achievements, the command awarded him three days of vacation with a visit to his native village. By the decision of the commander, he was provided with an Uti-2 plane and dad and his friend flew. The village did not have an airfield with a runway, so he had to put the plane on a country road, near my parents ' house. Residents of the surrounding villages came to meet the liberator pilots. Dad's friend left for the regiment and three days later came back to pick him up. Already in the peaceful post-war period, our father annually came to his native village of Vykhvatnovtsy to help his parents with household chores. The villagers met him as a hero, telling the young people from mouth to mouth the legend. As if everything had happened exactly as they said. During the time when the village was occupied by Nazi troops, my father and a friend flew in a combat plane and landed right near my parents' house. They ate, drank to the Victory over Germany, and in full view of the Nazis took off and disappeared into the clouds. We often tried to ask dad about his combat missions, but he always said that there was nothing interesting about it. At the end of the war, the 611 Przemysl Red Banner order of Suvorov fighter aviation regiment was stationed in the area of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Here my dad met Elizabeth, the only woman he loved. They married in their native regiment on August 19, 1946, and a year later, on October 5, their son, Vladimir, was born. Birth registration took place at the Soviet Consulate in Bucharest. If you look at places where our parents' children were born, you can trace the path that the 611th Aviation Regiment returned to the USSR. In February 1950, a daughter, Tatiana, was born in the city of Dzhankoy in the Crimea. From June 1950 to March 1952, dad served as senior flight attendant. In April 1951, a second son, Alexey, was born in Zaporozhye, the Ukraine. In March 1952, he was offered a new position as head of the landing control Command Post. In April 1953, he was appointed adjutant of the squadron. By order of the commander-in-Chief of the air force No. 0109 of January 13, 1953, he was awarded the rank of captain. In August 1954, my mother gave birth to two more sons-twins Alexander and Gennady. They were born in the city of Inza, Ulyanovsk region, where our grandmother Agafya Zakharovna, just granny Gasha, lived at that time. My father's regiment at this time was in the village of Sarata, Odessa region. In one of the photos, my father is with his fellow soldiers after the Victory day parade in 1957 in the garrison of the village of Sarata, near Odessa. As a squadron adjutant, he served until the reduction of the Armed Forces, which occurred in October 1957. By the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force No. 01241 of August 31, 1957, he was dismissed to the reserve with the right to wear a military uniform. After leaving the reserve, my family moved from the military town of Sarata, Odessa region, to the city of Kuibyshev, where my father was offered a position as an air traffic controller at Smyshlyayevka airport. The civil service career was also successful. A year later, a senior dispatcher – and then a shift supervisor. In 1962, his name was entered in the" Book of Honor " of the Kuibyshev air squadron.I n Kuibyshev, a new beautiful Kurumoch airfield was built, and all services from Smyshlyaevka airport moved and began to master new equipment for flight control of aircraft. From 1965 to 1971, he worked as the head of flights of the traffic service, and from 1971 to 1974-the head of the GRDP (main district control center). Our father made a great contribution to the development of the new management system. In December 1973, by order Of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, the Kuibyshev Zonal Center of the Unified Air Traffic Control System was formed. In February 1974, our father was appointed head of the Civil sector of this center. Repeated rationalization proposals were implemented not only in the Kuibyshev Zonal Center, but they were also applied in other Zonal Centers throughout the Union, for which he was encouraged with monetary rewards and certificates. Until November 1984, he headed the Civil sector of the Kuibyshev Zonal center of the Unified Air Traffic Control System. There were eight such zonal centers in the Soviet Union, with the Kuibyshev Zonal Center being the second largest. It was in this center that the new air traffic control system was tested, and then implemented in all other centers. Our family was big and friendly. Parents were able to create all the conditions for us to be comfortable and comfortable, so that we did not feel violated. A sense of freedom and trust was always present in the family. We had someone to take an example from, because our parents were always talked about only in excellent form. They have always been a shining example of a happy married couple for us. Our parents were interested in our Affairs, but they gave us the right to make our own decisions. For which we are very grateful to them. Our parents taught us to see everything beautiful in the world around us and constantly strive for self-development in all directions. Yes, they themselves were constantly interested in innovations taking place in the world. Our father, Ivan Semyonovich, always sought to learn new, unknown things in his profession. At the age of 62, my father went to the city of Leningrad to the Academy of Civil Aviation for advanced training courses. On the November holidays in 1984, my father came to us in Arkhangelsk from Leningrad and we had a great time. For three days we showed him the sights of Arkhangelsk, beautiful mushroom places, magnificent lakes, which are rich in these places. But the holidays quickly flew by, and on November 10, we accompanied my dad to the Arkhangelsk airport of Talagi, from where he flew to the Academy. These were the last days when we could talk to him, watch films that we managed to shoot while on summer vacations in Kuibyshev, Moscow, and Leningrad. He passed away on November 11, 1984 sitting at a desk.... We are all proud of our parents, who gave us the best, the brightest, the most human. They gave all their free time to their children and grandchildren. Eternal memory to all the soldiers who participated in the liberation of the whole world from fascism, to all the home front workers who forged Victory in the Great Patriotic War in the rear!!!