In our country, many people fought in the Great Patriotic War, one of them was my great-grandfather Ivan Vasilievich Illarionov. He was born on May 19, 1913 in the Stalingrad region, Kletsky district, the village of Borisovo. Great-grandfather grew up in a wealthy family, he was the second child. The family had 6 children in total. When he turned 18, his entire family was sent for resettlement to the Karaganda region due to the fact that his family was well-off in the village. Here my great-grandfather began to work in the MTS "Shock" as a tractor driver. After 3 years, having shown good work, he became an assistant foreman. At 23, my great-grandfather met with Markova Alexandra Semyonovna. A year later they signed and a year later their first son Vitya was born. Life went on in 1940, another son, Nikolai, was born. When the war began, my great-grandfather was not taken to the war, because he had two small children. But six months later, he went to war. Great-grandfather was drafted in January 1942 and immediately went to the Leningrad Front in an artillery regiment. The defense of Leningrad in 1941-1945 was one of the most tragic and heroic pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War. The battle for Leningrad was the longest in the entire war, it lasted 9000 days. On January 27, 1944, the city of Leningrad was liberated. The feat of the defenders of Leningrad, who defended the city in conditions of the most difficult trials, inspired the entire army and the country. In 1942, the Soviet government established a medal "For the Defense of Leningrad", it was awarded to about 1 million 470 thousand people. My great-grandfather survived the bombing, hunger, battles and other difficulties together with the city and survived and was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" After defending Leningrad, he fought in different places. He was in the villages and villages and in the early spring of 1945 he came to the Baltic States. In his spare time, when there were no battles, great-grandfather participated in the "Amateur artists" circle. He had a very beautiful voice, he sang songs and he also loved to play the harmonica. When the Baltic states were liberated, he moved on with his regiment. Great-grandfather met the victory near Poland. A year after the war, he returned home, where his wife and two sons were waiting for him. He returned to MTS Udarnaya and again began working as a tractor driver. In 1948, my great-grandfather and his family came to the Kuban. For one year they lived in the village of Privolnaya and there their daughter Maria was born. In 1949 they moved to the village of Staroderevyankovskaya and stayed here forever. Great-grandfather got a job in a workshop as a locksmith - toolmaker. Then three more children appeared. He had 6 children in total. Life went on. The children began to grow up, things were going well at work. After the war, my great-grandfather was awarded jubilee awards. In 1978 he was awarded the "Veteran of Labor" medal and in 1980 he was awarded the "Drummer of the Tenth Five-Year Plan" badge. In 1985 he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree. Great-grandfather never complained about his life; on the contrary, he was glad that he had a lot in his life. He died on May 13, 2000 at the age of 87. We are proud of him! He will always be in our memory!