Our Zoyushka

It was raining, snowing and penetrating wind was blowing. Not at once the spring began this year. It would not be possible even to go out, it was not comfortable outside. It was sloppy and slashy. One even wouldn’t like to look out of the window. The winter was at war with the spring and it didn’t want to surrender.

– Granny, tell me something interesting, please.

– Something what? Can it be a fairy tale?

– Why a fairy tale? I am not a baby! Tell me something very grasping.

– Well, grandson, listen...

It was long time ago. There lived a girl. She was seventeen. Her name was Zoya or Zoyushka as her mother called her. Mother taught her to think of the others first and then about herself. They were a happy family. They worked a lot and liked it. They were farmers and had to do everything for a living. The villagers loved this family and respected.

Our Zoyushka loved her native land, her street, her house and the nature of her Motherland. She was proud of her family and country. Also she loved her friends and liked to invite them to her house and treat them. Everything was good.

But hard times came. The enemy was at a house gate. The malicious enemy and the ruthless enemy. They came to win our country. They shot from guns, set houses on fire and killed men, women and even children…

Zoyushka wanted to protect her native land and join the army.

“How old are you, Beauty?” a military man asked.

Zoya didn’t like to tell a lie, but she had to. She said she was eighteen, and was accepted.

The girl began to study military science: how to hold a gun, how to charge it and how to shoot. She was an excellent pupil. But the most difficult for her was to learn German, the enemy’s language. Her soul protested, but then she was told that not the Germans were the enemies, but the fascists. So she began to learn it successfully.

– Granny, did she become a spy?

– No, darling, neither a brave spy nor a heroic nurse.

– But who?

– Well, honey. When the battle is over and the soldiers relax, who is the main person for them?

– Who?

– Remember, why did people like our Zoyushka?

– She liked to cook and feed people.

– That’s it. She served in the army as a cook.

– An ordinary cook? Oh, but I thought quite a different thing. Could a cook be a heroine?

– Well, the tale is not over yet...

Zoyushka was the last to go to bed and the first to get up. She was thin and slim, but did hard work. She washed all the dishes, prepared tasty food for the next day and then went to the forest to pick up mushrooms and berries and her favourite herbs, which she knew very well. She treated the soldiers with tasty food, because they should go to fight with the fascists. The soldiers began to call her “The Nurse Who Feeds”. When the enemy approached too near she took a gun and fought with the soldiers.

The whole country struggled and defended their people. And they won! Zoyushka reached Königsberg, now Kaliningrad. She learned what the Victory was! Zoyushka thought she could return home, but it was time to help the others. She was sent to Japan. The war didn’t finish for her. Some time passed and she returned home safe and sane. God saved her. So there was much happiness. “The Nurse Who Feeds” returned to her native village. Everything was good, even better than before…

– And what happened then, Granny?

– She married a good man, served as a militiaman. His name was Nikolka. Then she gave birth to a girl - Alyonka.

– Nikolka and Zoyushka... How sweet these names sound... But, listen, Nikolka is Nickolay in full. Oh, it is my great-grandfather’s name. His wife’s name was Zoya. She was my great-grandmother.

– Yes, honey, you guessed it. Did you like the tale? Was it grasping?

– It was not a tale, was it? It was real.

My great-grandmother Zoya Ivanovna Novikova suffered all war hardships with her people and her country. She served in the army as an ordinary cook and fed the soldiers.

You may ask whether she did heroic deeds. And my answer is, “Yes, she did”, she was a real heroine! She overcame troubles and served our Motherland honestly. For her heroic deeds she was awarded two Orders of the Great Patriotic War and three medals: “For Victory Over Germany”, “For Capture of Königsberg” and “For Labour Valour”.

On Victory Day our whole family used to gather at one big common fest dinner. Zoya Ivanovna, “The Nurse Who Feeds”, nicely dressed with all her her orders and medals, treats all those, who came to her, as she used to do during the years of the war. Happy songs were sung and people remembered the past.

But this year my family will go to the cemetery to honour our Zoyushka. She passed away last autumn. She didn’t live up only one year to her favourite holiday. At her grave we – her descendants – will remember and honour all those people who saved our country from fascism.

In the story about my great-grandmother Zoya Ivanovna Novikova I wanted to show the common image of ordinary, simple Russian women, who fought shoulder to shoulder with men for every inch of their land. I am proud of my great-grandmother and we always remember and admire her.

This year the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory is coming! Young generation is very grateful to all veterans of this terrible War for everything that they have done for the Victory. Nobody is forgotten and nothing is forgotten!