My hero.

Today is very important day here, in Russia. 67 years ago was the Victory Day over Nazi- Germany. For me it's one of the most important Russian holidays, it's not only my country's history, but because it's the part of my family's history too. 

My granddad is the hero of the Soviet union.

In 1939 he was called up for military service when he was 21 years old. In the Summer of 1941 his unit was on the border of Brest Fortress. He liked being in the army, but he was devoted to the theater, so he didn't give it up even during the war. His good attitude towards life and optimism helped him to go through all the bad things which happened to him during the war, but he made it until the victory, became a Head of The Orel state theater, met my beautiful grandmother and they lived happily ever after.  

That Saturday night in June wasn't different from the others. He just had his birthday, so Nikolay was in the perfect mood. My granddad was in charge of the library during that time, so he went there to read and fell asleep. 

Somebody started to bomb the Brest Fortress at four in the morning. According to my grandad's letters it looked as if somebody had fired the shell right into the library wall. My granddad couldn't breathe normally, he stood up, his eyebrow was cut and his eyes were bloodshot, but the only thing he was thinking about was "How dare they!". For five days he and his comrades were fighting with the Germans in one of the most dangerous parts of the war. They didn't eat or drink. There was no possible way to think about this at the moment. In my grandad's letters he said .-"We were fighting them for everything. For our families we missed, for warm, quiet days of June, for the peace they broke, for our friends who died, who we will never see again."

With every hour there were less and less soldiers left. They didn't know when they'd get help so the commander ordered three soldiers, including my grandfather, to swim across the Mukhavets river at night and reach the nearest Soviet regiment to tell them about the situation near the Fortress. At first everything went well, but on the other side of the river they were attacked with buttstocks and got beaten up by the Germans. "What were we thinking about? Were we scared at that moment? I won't lie, there was fear, despair and anger. But worse than the awful pain was the understanding that you became a captive."

He was sent from one prison to another when he decided to run away with his friend. It went well,  they already crossed Warsaw on their way to Bialystok when they got caught again and sent back to a prison in Warsaw. Even there Nikolay didn't stop believing, to help him and the other captives not to give up he kept reading to everyone famous Russian poems of Mayakovsky, Lermontov and Pushkin, so they always had hope that everything would soon be over. 

In the summer of 1944 Nikolay decided to run again, and this time he was successful. After different things he underwent on the way he finally  reached a bridge  where  on the other side was the Soviet Army. "I was so happy running towards them. They were waiving at me and shouting something but I couldn't hear them. I was so happy. And when I got there it turned out what they were saying was - "The bridge is mined! Get back, don't cross the bridge!" So I happened to check it myself while running- it wasn't mined".

My granddad took part in other battles and reached Berlin in 1945 for the Victory day. He was captured twice, but he didn't give up. After all that he became the best father for my mom and aunt and the best husband for my nan. 

During this peaceful time for my country it's hard to imagine how people went through all of that. To go though severe Russian winters, hunger and cold, how could they survive? I have my future now only because of him. I can't even explain how proud and thankful I am for everything he's done. The best thing for the all of us to do is to remember. And I remember.

the Victory fireworks over the Moscow river.

Если вы хотите почитать по-русски невероятную историю моего дедушки- http://www.tounb.ru/library/tula_region/history/ArticleByName.aspx?ArticleId=147&CategoryId=4

http://www.fire-of-war.ru/Brest-fortress/p1226.htm

Happy Victory day!
С днем победы!