The military rank is Sergeant. My great-grandfather, Dmitry Kharitonovich Karpenko, was born on October 10, 1919 in the village of Kaira, Gornostaevsky district, Nikolaevskiy region(at the present is known as Kherson region). In 1929, Dmitry's father and his family went to the southern Urals to build the famous Magnitka (Magnitogorsk metallurgical Plant). In Magnitogorsk, Dmitry not only learned to fly an airplane, but having an exceptional ear for music, he became the leader of a brass band. In Magnitogorsk he met my great-grandmother, Tamara Vladimirovna, who worked with him in the railway car shop, and on May 3 1940, my grandmother, Galina Dmitrievna, was born in Magnitogorsk. On October 6, 1940, Dmitry Kharitonovich was drafted by Magnitogorsk Regional Military Commissariat (RMC) into the army and entered the Burma Military Aviation school, located in the city of Leninsk-Kuznetsk, Kemerovo region. Upon school graduation he received the military rank of "Sergeant" according to the order of USSR People’s Defense Committee from 22.12.1940 No. 0362. Since 1942 he was at the front. Last place of his service was 183rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (FAR), 294th Fighter Aviation Division (FAD), 4th Fighter Aviation Corp (FAC), 2nd Aviation Army (Commander: Lieutenant General, from February 4, 1944 Colonel-General of aviation Krasovsky Stepan Akimovich) of Voronezh front (commander-the Army General Nikolay Fedorovich Vatutin). Starting from July 13, 1943 20 aircrafts of the regiment were based at Krasnaya Polyana airfield in the Belgorod region to the south-east of the famous Prokhorovka). The flight area was Pavaroti - Shakhovo - Nepkhaevo south of Prokhorovka direction. It was from this area on July 16, 1943 Dmitry Kharitonovich having flown YAK-76 fighter did not return back from a combat mission. On the same day Junior Lieutenant of the same Regiment Lepekhin Nikolay Andreevich, born in 1922 and two fighter pilots of 515 FAR Junior Lieutenants Larkin Nikolay Andreevich, born in 1921 and Yulin Nikolay Fedorovich, born in 1922 went missing in action. Mikheev Nikolay Fedorovich born in 1921 who was considered to be missed in action on the same day fortunately was alive. In the combat report of the Voronezh front to the Chief of General Staff headquarters No. 01398 about military losses from July 4 to July 22, 1943, the following figures were given: 20.577 were killed, 25.898 were missing in actions, 29 were captured. Total irretrievable human losses were 46,504, 54,427 were wounded. Total human losses were 100.931. By order No. 0178 of USSR People’s Defense Commissariat dated July 2, 1944, the 183rd FAR was reorganized into the 150th Guards FAR. The 294th FA Division that included this regiment was reorganized into the 13th Guards FAD with the same order of the USSR PDC and the 4th FA Corp, which included the division, was reorganized into the 3rd Guards FA Corp with the same Order of the USSR People’s Defense Commissariat. From July 18, 1943, Aviation Corps was included in the 5th Air force Army (Commander Lieutenant General and from March 25, 1944, Colonel-General of Aviation Goryunov Sergey Kondratyevich), which on October 20, 1943 became part of the 2nd Ukrainian front (Commanders Marshals Konev Ivan Stepanovich and Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich). The Army has ended the war in Prague.