My great – grandfather, Vasily Golikov, was killed in July 1943 near Orel. I heard about it and the war in general from my grandmother. Since childhood, I felt that Victory day was a special holiday in our family: with stories about my great-grandmother and great-grandfather, with a minute of silence, with tears, old records, photos and letters from the front. After participating in the Finnish war, the great-grandfather, refusing the armor that was given to employees of defense enterprises, volunteered for the Great Patriotic War. Under fire and bombing, in heat and cold, infantry soldiers shared a harsh and difficult front-line fate. In April 1942, our great-grandfather fell, struck by a bullet and shrapnel. After being seriously injured, he was sent to the hospital, and when he came to his sences, he realized that he was not far from his home, his wife, children, and parents. He immediately reported this and received the good news that his wife was going to see him on a date. This news helped to recover faster. They loved each other, and that was the most beautiful thing in all life. The local trains were delayed and great-grandmother, Golikova Alexandra Antonovna, was two weeks on the road, instead of a day. The hospital was at the same station of her arrival. Passing by the departing train, she suddenly turned her head and almost fainted, when she saw him in the window of the car. She ran after the car, but they had no chance to talk. And then there were the letters between them. Here are excerpts from the letter: ""I am back in my battalion, where I was greeted warmly and joyfully...""; ""We have only been in battle for three days, and already so many successes. Falling under enemy fire, we do not feel fear and are used to the whistle of a bullet, the howling of mines...""; ""We are all grateful to fate for the fact that it did not bypass us, for the fact that our youth fell on heroic years, and we did not stand aside from the historical events of our time."" The first days of July 1943 were the beginning of the failure of the German offensive in the Oryol-Kursk and Belgorod directions. Although on the eve of Hitler announced that this is the last battle for the victory of Germany. German reinforcements were constantly arriving in the Orel area. The Red Army dispelled the fairy tale created by the Nazis that summer is supposedly the season of success and victories of the German Army. Our troops, having crushed the enemy's divisions, first restored the position they occupied before the German offensive on July 5, 1943, and then liquidated the enemy's Orel bridgehead and liberated the cities of Orel, Belgorod, and Kursk. You can only imagine what kind of fights were going on these days! The enemy, driven out of their fortifications, tried to regain their lost positions. In a short time, over a thousand shells and mines were fired at a small section of our front line. At the same time, the Nazis poured a shower of machine-gun and automatic fire on the entire square. The ground groaned under the blows. Suddenly, all that infernal noise stopped. It became clear that the enemy was attacking. He pushed, wanted to break through as soon as possible, because minutes decided success. Some of the soldiers, and my great-grandfather was among them, were surrounded and cut off by the Nazis. Only five were left alive. Even those who were wounded, lay nearby and fired, then the shooting stopped...the Fascists surrounded them from all sides, looking at their pale, chalk-like faces and their tunics wet with blood.... Meanwhile, a letter sent to my great-grandmother the day before (July 17, 1943) was being sent. ""My dear friends, I wish you to work in the rear, for our Motherland! Sparing no effort, as our valiant wars, regardless of the deadly danger, smash and destroy the enemy's equipment and manpower, which is why the German military machine begins to choke on its filthy blood. Please remember that your father,is a participant in the defeat of brutal bandits who encroached on the life and happiness of fathers, mothers and children, on our Sacred Homeland."" Every year on victory day, memory brings us back to the years of danger and anxiety, high patriotism, courage and endurance, heroism and unquenchable love for the Motherland, for a woman, for a family! Let this memory be passed down from one generation to another, and those who fell in battle will always be close to us, as friends, as relatives, as ourselves! Love! Remember! Proud! Happy holiday, happy Victory Day!"