When the war started, my grandfather was 28 years old. He worked as a school principal and taught mathematics. On vacation at the sea, he met my grandmother. They spent two weeks at sea together, and then came June 22, 1941. My grandfather returned to Bezhitsa and immediately went to the military enlistment office. My grandmother was from Moscow, she also returned home, but they corresponded. My grandfather was not immediately sent to the front. He was trained as a mortar commander. When he was assigned to these training courses, his grandmother came to him there and lived with his parents. But the Germans quickly advanced, and soon my grandfather's school and parents and grandmother were evacuated to Krasnoyarsk. From there, my grandfather went to the front. And my grandmother was waiting for him, pregnant with my mother. My mother was born in August 1942. And in February 1943, my grandfather came from the front wounded. He was shell-shocked, lost hearing in one ear, and nearly lost a leg. It was covered with earth during the explosion, and he lay underground for a whole day. Then a nurse dug it up. How he survived is still unclear. The leg was so badly pinched by the weight of the earth that the doctor at the hospital wanted to amputate it. When my grandfather heard the doctors discussing amputation, he began to cry. The surgeon saw this and agreed to leave the leg, but warned that it would be sore and numb for the rest of his life. His leg really hurt all his life, the blood was not circulating well, but grandfather was still left with two legs. When he returned in June 1943, my mother was 10 months old. The food was very bad, my grandmother lost her milk, my mother was practically dying, and there was no money to buy food, milk. So, as soon as my grandfather returned, he immediately started caring for my mother and my grandmother. Then in 1944. they returned to Moscow, and then a second daughter was born. My grandfather worked as a math teacher all his life. Many of his students became scientists, taught at Universities themselves, and were engaged in science. Until the last days, his students constantly visited him, came on May 9, on his birthday, and just to chat. Grandfather was awarded the badge "excellent student of education" and "Veteran of labor". He devoted his entire life to children and school. He didn't like to talk about the war, and he always cried when remembered those days. Therefore, we know almost nothing about what battles he participated in and where he fought. I only remember one story, how their battalion was surrounded for a long time, and they got scurvy. And then the soldiers, at the risk of getting shot by a German sniper, crawled into the swamp and collected cranberries in helmets and bowler hats. And then they gave it to each other. Grandfather, too, was crawling over the cranberries. Thanks to this cranberry, they survived.