My grandfather Semyon Yelchaninov was a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Everyone in our family remembers him and loves him. Every year on 9 May we talk about it. He was born in a large farming family in February 1922. Little Semyon spent his childhood in the village of Meteor, Ponamarevsky District. In 1941 he went to the town of Chkalov, many kilometers from home, to go to a pedagogical technical school, but he had no time. In 1941, when the beginning of the Great Patriotic War was announced, Semyon Nikolaevich Yelchaninov was called up for military service and sent to the Saratov School for Junior Commanders. After his graduation he was sent to Ukraine in the rank of a second lieutenant colonel in a rifle company. On the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation in the section "People's Fate" I found many documents about my grandfather, some of them describing what he received this or that award for. Here is an entry in one of the documents: "Comrade S. N. Yeltschaninov proved to be a fearless officer in the fights with the German fascist invaders. Lieutenant Yelchaninov covered the crossing with a train, destroyed two enemy machine guns, secured the crossing of units, transported machine guns across the river and secured them on the opposite bank, fended off two enemy counterattacks. Personally, he fended off a counterattack with a machine gun, destroying at least fifteen enemy soldiers and officers and ensuring the maintenance of the western line. During this battle he was seriously wounded in the arm." And here is another entry from the personnel file: "Lieutenant Yelchaninov showed himself competent, bold, demanding of himself and a subordinate commander. Received a series of commendations from the commander, commendations from the commander of the army. In the battle near the village of Maidan he personally destroyed up to fifteen German soldiers with a Goryunov machine gun, which helped to hold the line of conquest. Through his personal example of bravery, he inspired the soldiers to fight and thus ensured the advance of the "rifle units". My grandfather received the rank of captain of a motorized rifle company near the town of Koenigsberg and was awarded the medal "for the conquest of Koenigsberg". He ended the war in Berlin, for which he received the medal "for the conquest of Berlin"."Many of his awards were given to children, as he did not attach great value to them and did not consider them special, but as my grandmother told me, my grandfather has sixteen state awards, including five medals. Each medal has its own story of fighting and defeating the enemy. Here is the medal "For Military Merits", "Order of the Red Star, Order of the Red Banner", "Banner of the Order of the Degree III ", Medal "For Courage", "Order of the Degree of the Patriotic War I", Medals "For the Liberation of Smolensk", "For the capture of Warsaw", "For the Liberation of Brest", "For the capture of Berlin", "For the capture of Koenigsberg". There are also medals for peacetime: "30 years of victory", "40 years of victory", "Veteran of Labor". Semyon Yelchaninov returned to his homeland after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The road to victory was not easy and difficult. Our state got it at a high price. Do not forget the victims that the country and Orenburg Residents suffered during the Great Patriotic War. Your memory will live forever in our hearts. The people celebrated the victory over Nazi Germany. My grandfather also celebrated the victory. We, the younger generation, cherish the memory of these terrible events.