I want to tell you about my great-grandfather, Guselnikov Vasily Mitrofanovich. He was born on the 2nd of March, 1921, in the village of Kochetovka, the Khobotovsky district, the Tambov region. In October 1939 he entered the Volsky aviation technical school. At the end of 1940 he was assigned to the 211st assault aviation regiment. From the first day of the war, from the 22nd of June, 1941, till 1942 he was on the South-Western front. Later, as a technical lieutenant, he fought in the 431st assault aviation regiment on the Stalingrad front, then in the 622nd assault aviation regiment on the North Caucasus front. In 1943 their regiment participated in supporting the landing on Malaya Zemlya, near the city of Novorossiysk. At one time he happened to serve with Stalin's son, Vasily, in the 622nd assault aviation regiment of the 214th assault aviation division. In 1944 he was in the 4th Ukrainian front. During one of the battles he was wounded, burned in the plane and burned his lungs. He was treated in the hospital for a long time. In early 1945 as part of the 15th air army he was transferred to the 2nd Baltic front under the command of major general Bagramyan. Then he was seconded to the management of the 14th fighter aviation corps on the Leningrad front - as head of the aircraft and engine accounting department. During the period of combat operations, while working as a mechanic technician, the staff of his unit served 868 sorties and restored 65 combat aircrafts without failures and accidents. My great-grandfather was a member of the Communist party of the Soviet Union since 1943. He was awarded the order of the Red Star, a medal "For Military Merits", medal "For defense of Stalingrad", medal "For defense of Caucasus", medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945". Order no. 0182 of the Baltic military district dated the 26th of September, 1945, senior technician-lieutenant Guselnikov, Vasily Mitrofanovich, who served as the chief of the department of the account of aircraft and engines from the 14th fighter air corps of the 15th air army, retired for health reasons (disabled veteran). He was only 24 years old. And in 1948 after treatment he moved with his family to the hero city of Stalingrad and helped to rebuild the city after the war. Vasily Mitrofanovich Guselnikov died in May 1983.