Dolgikh Ivan Petrovich My great-grandfather, according to my mother, was a very kind person, an avid fisherman, very fond of the forest. When my mother was little, they often went on foot, sometimes for very long distances. My great-grandfather was drafted into the Red Army in 1939. He began his service in the NKVD as a machine gunner. During the great Patriotic war, 17 echelons were sent to strengthen the Belarusian front, including my great-grandfather. Soon they were bombed, only 2 of the 17 echelons were left. The further they moved, the more they lost their comrades. The Germans bombed without stopping. When there were less than 20 of them left, the senior survivor, a Lieutenant in rank, gathered them and said: "Save yourself as best you can." They broke into groups and started moving, moving only at night, hiding during the day. Soon they were surrounded by the Germans and captured. My great-grandfather was a prisoner for two years. I experienced all the difficulties, all the hardships of captivity and torture. Later, four soldiers, he among them, escaped. During the escape, one died while passing through the barbed wire. The three of them made their way to ours, sleeping on the ground in the forest, making a bed out of lapnik. We went to the villages at night, so that no one would notice, we made our way to the haylofts, and it was happiness to sleep on soft hay. They ate berries and mushrooms. In the forest, they were attacked by the Germans (a small group of 4 people), but they won over them, capturing weapons. Once they got lost, hiding in a swamp, but the path was shown to them by boys who were grazing horses. Only thanks to their willpower and perseverance were able to reach ours. My great-grandfather returned from the war in 1945. Worked as a tractor driver, foreman. Before retiring as a storekeeper. In the post-war years, my grandfather got married and had 4 children. At an early age, a daughter drowned, and she and her grandmother suffered this loss very hard. My mother passed on the memory of my great-grandfather to me and my older brother, and I will keep this memory and pass it on to my children. Great-grandfather was awarded the order of Patriotic War II degree, the badge "Veteran", medal of Zhukov, medal "40 years of Victory in the great Patriotic war", medal "50 years of Victory in the great Patriotic war", medal "60 years of Armed forces USSR", medal "70 years to Armed Forces of the USSR". My grandfather died in 2004.