All I know about my grandfather Vasily Petrovich Krylov stems from the stories about him told by my grandmother, father, and father's sister. Before the war, V. P. Krylov worked as a school principal in the village of Emelkino in the Bilyar district of the TASSR. In June 1941, he went to the frontlines without using his "reservation" (respite). He left his young pregnant wife at home. In 1944, he was discharged due to injury, nevertheless, after the hospital he went back to the battlefront for some more. On returning home, Vasily Petrovich saw his first-born, Valera, who was already 3 years old, for the first time. Soon after returning from the front, Vasily Petrovich resumed his duties as a school principal. His wife, Faina Krylova, also worked as a teacher of Russian and German at the same school. In 1945, the Krylov family had a daughter, Lyudmila, and in 1946 - a son, Eugene. In 1947, Vasily Petrovich, maintaining the post of school principal, was transferred to the village of Shumkovo in the Rybnoslobodsky district of the TASSR, where he moved with his family. In 1949, they moved again, due to the transfer of Vasily Petrovich to the village of Aktau in the Chistopol district of the TASSR. In 1950, the family was hit with woe. Vasily Petrovich became seriously ill: his injury and severe front-line conditions had caught up to him. He was sent for treatment to a military hospital in Kazan, where he died in June 1950, without seeing his youngest son Kolya, who was born in April. Vasily Petrovich was buried at the Arsky cemetery in Kazan. At the age of 27, Faina Mikhailovna was left a widow with four children in her arms. When their father died, the children were still young and their knowledge about their father's military past is rather slight. They remember (according to their mother) only that he participated in the defense of Novorossiysk, had an officer's rank, and had military awards. In November 1943, during the combat, their unit was crossing the lake Sivash, they had to make their way waist-deep in water, which affected the health of Vasily Petrovich (his kidneys and joints were frostbitten). He was also shot in the leg, after which he limped and suffered from leg pain for the rest of his life. With immense respect to and in loving memory of my grandfather Vasily Petrovich Krylov.