My grandfather, Yuri Nikolaevich Kharchev, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Was born in 1919 in the city of Velikiye Luki. In 1941 he graduated from the first Leningrad Artillery School (LAO) with the rank of lieutenant. From the first days of the war he commanded a company of intelligence officers on the Leningrad front. Once, having occupied a height on the Nevsky patch, his company corrected the fire of our artillery and was surrounded. Yuri Nikolaevich, with minimal losses, took people and equipment out of the environment, for which he would be awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and he himself was seriously wounded. Extract from the order: “Comrade Kharchev, being the platoon commander of the headquarters battery, carried out his reconnaissance to enemy territory six times, always obtaining important information about the enemy and showing great composure, courage, valor and skillfully directed the actions of the entire reconnaissance group ... always after receiving the order to withdraw the battery, he was the last to leave the battle, covering the entire group. In one of the reconnaissance, Comrade Kharchev with the Red Army soldier Gavrilov, covering the battery withdrawal, held back a strong enemy attack together, while killing eleven soldiers. The next time Kharchev, going deep into enemy territory with a telephone set, adjusted the fire of our artillery. The enemy not only opened weapons and machine-gun fire, but also launched mortars, mines exploded nearby, covering Kharchev with earth, but he continued to adjust the artillery fire. For bravery, courage and useful data obtained in intelligence, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.