Gavriil Alexandrovich was called to the front in 1941. From the first day till the last, he went through this war. Like everyone else, he saw death and often found himself on the edge between life and death. Difficult and incredibly bitter was the period of retreat of our troops in the first years of the war. After heavy fighting, the soldiers had to leave their native land to be desecrated by the enemy. Gavriil Alexandrovich participated in many battles and operations, and was repeatedly awarded for heroism. When our troops went on the offensive, they needed a "language". The reconnaissance group, which included Gavriil Alexandrovich, went to take him, they managed to capture not just a soldier, but an officer! In the forest, they came across an enemy ammunition depot. To prevent the Germans from getting it, they lay on the cold ground and guarded it all night. After this operation, my grandfather was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He was offered to be trained as a recon, but after going through half the war with a friend, he could not part with him and refused. The war ended, but the fighting continued near Prague. Many Russian soldiers were killed. The end of the war was officially announced, but the blood of Soviet soldiers continued to flow. Gavriil Alexandrovich was lucky to be alive, although he was shell-shocked. At the end of the fighting the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet troops, Marshal G.K. Zhukov arrived in Prague. At a large table he congratulated the soldiers with the end of the war and thanked them for their bravery. Gavriil Alexandrovich was also sitting at this table. It was time to go home. Gavriil Alexandrovich and his bosom friend drove to Lviv, where they parted ways. They promised to remember each other and meet from time to time. But there was an accident at the railway station, the train went downhill, and before the eyes of Gavriil Alexandrovich, a friend was run over by a train… Flushed and indignant, he went to deal with the authorities, not without physical abuse — he could not restrain himself. After that, he was taken off the train and jailed for 4 years. He came home in 1949, stripped of all awards and without a passport. In the new passport, he took the name of his friend Gennady and lived with this name all his life. The passport office gave him the name Gennady instead of Gavriil. He did not correct it and left the name, the name of his dead friend. And he named his son Gabriil. When they were making out a new military book, an error occurred: it turned out that my grandfather hadn’t not fought at all. He was stripped of all the benefits that were presented at the time. But he did not give up, worked hard and restored the destroyed economy. Together with his wife, they raised 7 children.