Sorokin Maxim Lukyanovich Our motherland lost many sons and daughters during the Great Patriotic war. This war is not just a period of history, it is an unhealed wound. My great-grandfather Maxim Sorokin was a participant in the war and gave his life for our country. I am very sorry that I, his great-granddaughter, know little or nothing about him. I was told about great-grandfather, by my grandmother Lyubov Maksimovna Shabalova (her maiden name was Sorokina). I found information about my great-grandfather in the 2nd volume of the Book of Memory. Saratov region. 1994 issue p. 137: Sorokin Maxim Lukyanovich, b. d. Dubovaya. The petty officer went missing in February 1942. This book of Memory, which I held in my hands, is dedicated to the saratovites who died in the defense of the fatherland. This book is a national memory, a love for the fatherland. It contains the names of the fallen and lists of age-free losses. Flipping through its pages now, 70 years after the end of the war, we learn how many saratovites lie on the battlefields, died in concentration camps, died of wounds, went missing. I think there are a few people who don't find a single familiar name on these pages. When I told my grandmother a few years ago, when I was still in the 5th form, that I had found her father's name in this wonderful book, she was surprised and happy. After all, when he was taken to the front, my grandmother Lyuba was only 5 years old. She remembers well how the whole family accompanied her father to the village Council. From there, he and other villagers were sent on carts to Arkadak to the Assembly point. This was at the end of 1941. He waved them off. So it remained in her memory. My great-grandfather did not know about the birth of his daughter Valentina, who was born on May 12, 1942. My grandmother remembers that they were waiting for letters from my father. But in 1942, they received a notification that my father was missing. All through the war, they waited and believed that their father was alive, that he simply could not give a message about himself. My great-grandmother, his wife, Antonina Timofeevna worked hard. Raised 4 girls and 2 sons. They lived like everyone else, poor, hungry, cold. The war was one for all, and the trouble was one for all, it United. Funerals were also mourned by the whole village. I really want to find photos of my great-grandfather in my family albums. The further the war years go from us, the more we should appreciate the merit of the defenders of our homeland and home front workers. We owe our lives to them.