Rank: Red Army soldier. Branch of service: artillery. I, like all my peers, am not familiar with war. I am not familiar with and do not want war. But neither did those who died without a thought that they would die, that they would never see the sun, the sky, the grass, or the children. The war did not spare a single household, brought trouble to each one. Millions of soldiers did not return. They were left on countless battlefields, in the ashes of concentration camp cremation furnaces, on land and at the bottom of the seas. Everywhere. My grandfather Vasily Kurochkin did not return from the frontlines either. What do I know about him? Quite a bit from the stories of friends and relatives. My grandfather, Vasily Grigoryevich Kurochkin, was born in a large peasant family with five children, in the village of Enikeyevka in the Ruzaevsky district. Life was difficult, from the age of six my grandfather had been working: tilling the garden, grazing cattle. But he was studying, at the same time. My grandfather learned to write and count. He was a very literate person. Before the war, he had everything: his beloved wife Domna Vasilyevna, seven children (three sons and four daughters), and his treasured job. My grandfather worked as an accountant on the Krasnaya Zvezda collective farm. He was a very honest, decent, and kind person. But suddenly everything was turned upside down: "war" - this terrible word entered the village, its every house. Vasily Grigoryevich had the opportunity to stay with his family and work in the police, but he was not the kind of person that could hide behind the backs of others. Without a moment's hesitation, he went to the military enlistment office. Grandfather was mobilized from the former Kulicheyskiy village council, and, among a number of other volunteers, was sent to the army. He liberated the city of Sevastopol. Then he was transferred to the city of Voronezh. He wrote kind and tender letters to his wife and children. He was very worried about them. He never thought about death, never thought about it under any circumstances. He wanted to bid goodbye to the enemy as fast as he could and return to his hometown. But he was never to return. In July 1942, trouble fell onto the family. The funeral service reported that Vasily Grigoryevich Kurochkin died a brave death in the battle for the city of Voronezh. He was buried in a mass grave in the city of Voronezh. I am proud of my grandfather. He is worthy of respect. I am proud of my grandmother, Domna Kurochkina, who raised seven worthy children. They say that a person lives as long as the memory of him is alive. Let this memory teach us kindness, peacefulness, and humanity. And let none of us forget who and how fought for our freedom and happiness. We are indebted to them.