Met at wartranslated

Looking at photographs of participants in the Great Patriotic War, stored in the Urzhum Museum of Local Lore, I noticed a photograph of Vasily Ivanovich Babin: a strong-willed face, a stern look, a neat uniform, three military orders on his chest. I wanted to know about the fate of this man who, as it turned out, met his future wife during the war. Vasily Babin was born on August 18, 1922 in the village of Srednyaya Kizer, Urzhum district. He studied well at school and was one of the best athletes. In September 1940, he was called up for military service. Our fellow countryman ended up in the Far East in naval aviation. At first, Vasily Ivanovich was in a training unit, and then served in an aviation regiment, where he met the Great Patriotic War. Since July 18, 1941, Sergeant Vasily Babin, as part of an aviation squadron, participated in many combat operations in the Black Sea, where his unit was redeployed from the Far East. One autumn night in 1942, a couple of our planes took off to lay a minefield on the Danube River. The mines were successfully dropped.

The enemy discovered our planes too late, so that coastal anti-aircraft artillery fire did not harm them. Crews...