Alexander Vasilyevich was born in the rich Saratov village of Bazarny Karabulak and was the last and sixth child in the family of Vasily Kirsanov and his beautiful wife Anna. In the early 30s of the XX-th century, their family was hit with their first woe: Anna died, her children became orphans, and her husband, who had loved her madly all his life, was widowed. Fleeing from dispossession of kulaks (the dekulakization), the Kirsanov family moved to Nizhny Novgorod, the city of Gorky. The father got a job in a tannery, the second daughter Antonina (born in 1914) worked in a flax factory. The burden of caring for all of the younger sisters was laid on Olga (born in 1916) and Valentina (born in 1919), while the responsibility for the younger brothers Ivan (born in 1921) and Alexander (born in 1923) fell on the shoulders of the father and his eldest daughter Antonina. Alexander Vasilyevich was a favorite in the family and was a surprisingly purposeful boy. He proudly wore the badge "Ready for anti-aircraft and anti-chemical defense of the USSR" back in 1939. Between 12 and 20 May, 1941, Alexander Vasilyevich was drafted into the Red Army. On May 20, 1941, his sister Valentina, who served on the railways, came home from the city of Rivne, and a month later the Great Patriotic War began! On the frontlines of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander Vasilyevich was a signalman. Letters from him stopped coming in the fall of 1943, and for some reason the whole family decided that their beloved son and brother Alexander was missing. In 1951, Antonina Vasilyevna and her husband, Ivan Makluev, a disabled veteran of the Great Patriotic War, had a son, who was named Alexander, in honor of the person gone missing on the frontlines of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Alexander Vasilyevich Kirsanov - the youngest brother, for whom Antonina Vasilyevn was like a mother. In 1956, without any accurate knowledge about the fate of his youngest son, the soldier's father, Vasily Stepanovich Kirsanov died. 31 years had passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and, quite unexpectedly, the story of the missing soldier was continued. One day, in 1976, his sister Valentina bought the city's favorite newspaper - “Gorky worker” - and in it read: "The village administration and red pathfinders - students of the secondary school of the village of Malaya Lepetikha in Zaporozhye region - are looking for families of Red Army soldiers who fought, died and were buried in a mass grave on the territory of their village. Relatives of Alexander Vasilyevich Kersanov, born in 1921 in Gorky city are sought for in Gorky city. » The surname did not match: Kersanov instead of Kirsanov; year of birth: 1921 instead of 1923; place of birth: Gorky instead of the Market Karabulak, but neither Valentina Vasilyevna nor Antonina Vasilyevna doubted for a moment that this was their younger brother “Sashko”. An employee of Russian Railways, Valentina Vasilyevna Vorontsova (Kirsanova) did not need much time to get ready for the trip. Valentina Vasilyevna made the trip to Malaya Lepetikha: she stood on the Bank of the wide Dnieper river, where her younger brother Alexander Kirsanov fought and died, near the new building of Malo-Lepetikhinskaya secondary school. Here was the burial place: one mass grave for all; here was a marble slab, and on it, stamped also with an error: "Kersanov A.V." among "...those who died during the liberation of the village of Malaya Lepetikha in 1944". At the festive welcome at the school, Valentina Vasilyevna presented the red pathfinders with memorable gifts, and the issue of the newspaper "Gorky worker" with their request. For herself, she took a bit of earth from the mass grave, and after returning to Gorky, she put that earth on the grave of the soldier's father, Vasily Stepanovich Kirsanov. Now the whole family could hope that their younger and beloved brother had not gone missing, which at that time could mean many things: captivity, betrayal, desertion, execution on the spot according to the laws of war... Now the whole family could be sure that Alexander had died as he had lived – honestly and bravely, without fear or reproach – and yet he had died... We have resumed the search for information about Alexander Kirsanov seven years ago, searching through the electronic archives of various sites. On April 11, 2017, on the website "Memory of the people" we found a page from the "Personal list of irrevocable losses of sergeants and enlisted personnel for the month of February 1944", where on page 2 of the list under number 5 it was stated: “Alexander Kirsanov; Unit Number: 241 communications company, [headquarters of the 248th rifle division]; private; Place and year of birth: 1921 (instead of 1923), Gorky city, Krasnoarmeyskaya str., 2, sq. 40 (instead of the Market Karabulak of the Saratov region, where we had been looking 7 years ago); place of conscription: Leninsky RVC, Gorky city; Time and reason for retirement: died of a wound on 13. 02. 1944.; Place of burial: the village of Malaya Lepetikha B / Lepetikhinsky district of the Zapor. region of the Ukrainian SSR (now this village belongs to the Kherson region of Ukraine). The information about relatives included: “Father: Kirsanov Vasily Stepanovich, Gor. Gorky, Leninsky district, Krasnoarmeyskaya str., 2, sq. 40.” Thus, after another 40 years, our family finally confirmed the exact cause of death of Alexander Vasilyevich Kirsanov: we found an electronic version of archival documents confirming the cause of his death and the authenticity of the place of his burial. It is a pity that his siblings were not able to see these documents. And yet... Once again we want to express our gratitude to the "Immortal Regiment of Russia", the project "Memory of the People" and all patriotic projects on the Internet dedicated to the Great Patriotic War for the opportunity to find our missing relatives or search for additional information about them. Preserve their eternal memory! Many thanks to everyone for the opportunity to be a part of and remain on the same military force, whose name is our MOTHERLAND - RUSSIA! A huge thank you to those Ukrainian boys and girls, the Administration of the village of Malaya Lepetikha - to those who in the distant year of 1976 sent a letter to the city of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), searching for the relatives of an unknown soldier A.V. Kersanov! A huge thank you to the editorial staff of the newspaper "Gorky worker"! Thanks to that publication from 1976, the name of another hero is inscribed in the history of the city - Alexander Kirsanov of Nizhny Novgorod - an ordinary soldier-signalman who died in the Great Patriotic War in the battles for the Dnieper, which took place on its banks in 1943! His nephew, Kirsanova Alexander– Alexander Maklev and the nephew's wife Marina Aleksandrovna