So says the legendary pilot Alexey MARESYEV

Once Alexey Maresyev was an ideal for young and old, an example in everyday situations. He had fame, honor, and universal respect. Time changes a lot, and for the same youth, others now serve as idols.

Alas, it is painful and bitter to see how in the last decade the bright image of the Soviet man, worker, warrior, and patriot is being erased from our history.

"Have you really been touched by the black brush, Alexey Petrovich?"

- Last year in Komsomolskaya Pravda there was an article " Maresyev is still alive!".. In another newspaper I meet: Maresyev, they say, has an apartment of 70 square meters and not a word about what kind of area it is, common or residential... People will read such an article and think: "Vo, Maresyev, fat!"And how do I "fatten up"? I live like everyone else...

Another example from the same opera. Boris Polevoy died. We weren't exactly close friends, but we had a good relationship: together they participated in solemn meetings, traveled as part of delegations... When Boris Nikolaevich died, I was treated in a sanatorium, just arrived. I was told... I immediately called the widow. I called her by her first name and patronymic, and sincerely sympathized with her... I could not go to the funeral, so I said: I will return to Moscow, I will definitely visit the grave - I will put flowers... Which I did. After a while, they tell me that there was a TV show. A journalist speaks, shares "memories": he was visiting Maresyev, offered to write an obituary for Polevoy's death. And Maresyev, according to him, replies: "I won't write anything!" And in general, they say, it was not Polevoy who made Maresyev famous, but, on the contrary, Maresyev Polevoy!.. What kind of nonsense is this? But this bullshit was listened to by millions of viewers!

I'm much more concerned about slandering the names of those who can't stand up for themselves. The best heroes... - "not heroes" already!.. They belittle the significance of the feat of Matrosov or Gastello just because others repeated it. It was a great feat! So why desecrate the memory? And these humiliating renames! Tell me, whose eye was blinded by the name Chkalov?.. The name of a remarkable pilot in Moscow was a street. Renamed it!.. What did he do wrong? That he was close to Stalin? That he was highly valued by Stalin?!

- No fault to blame... Deheroization and desecration of memory have acquired a pathologically prolonged character.

"It's like a contract killing. I am sure that the practice of debunking our national pride has an order. It is very profitable for someone to have no heroes left, so that there is no one to take an example from... Strip the people of their heroic past, their roots, and you can do anything with them! The strongest blow to spirituality has been dealt: we have "nothing" and "no one" to be proud of!

Almost no one is engaged in military-patriotic education of young people at the state level. The Committee of War Veterans-yes, it constantly draws attention to this problem, raises questions to the government... But its capabilities are very limited today. I don't understand the passivity of our public. Who forbids, say, a school principal from organizing a meeting with veterans? Nobody. Until recently, I was constantly invited: "Alexey Petrovich, be sure to come!.."- and I always came, how else? And now ~ how cut off!.. I am very much afraid that we will be replaced by a generation that will look up not to our fathers and grandfathers, not to their ancestors, but to our enemies, spiritually alien people. However, I believe that the veil from my eyes will still fall. There are a lot of real Russian people, patriots. Yes, they are confused today, some are disoriented...

"This is a serious problem for a society without a moral compass. The book about you was a very prominent reference point in its time. More than one generation has been brought up by your example. Alexey Petrovich, how did you meet Polevoy? How did the writer work with the book?

- This meeting took place in ' 43, in the midst of the fighting on the Kursk Bulge. Boris Polevoy was then a war correspondent, a major. He was interested in the" work " of the pilots, in nine days

they shot down 47 enemy planes, and he was recommended to talk to the commander of the fighter flight that destroyed two fascist planes. That commander was me... I talked with Boris Nikolaevich, as I remember now, all night. With that, we parted ways. It was only after the war that I learned that the material he had written was never published at that time, because Pospelov, the editor - in-chief of Pravda, did not like it. I found out that our conversation had a logical continuation later, when I was sent to the Main Directorate of Military Educational Institutions for service. Polevoy and I met. (I heard on the radio that his book was being written and published. I called Pravda and they gave me his phone number.) Boris Nikolaevich was very happy to see me alive.

He said that he wrote the book when the Nuremberg trials were underway. He looked at the Nazi soldiers and mentally compared them to me, a simple Russian guy... My fate, of course, was unusual. But at the same time, my life is a reflection of the life of my entire generation! Meresyev is a collective image, so to speak. And above all, this is probably why millions of people who have passed the test of war have been interested in his fate...

- Boris Polevoy, however, spoke specifically about your fate...

- I read the story, as they say, in the hot pursuit of events. There were no fundamental comments on what was written. Polevoy, for example, writes that I found the body of the deceased nurse, took her bag... There was no such fact in reality. I didn't find any bags. The writer sympathized with me, did not leave me without medication - and this scene appeared. In another place, you can read that I caught and ate a hedgehog, although in fact it was a lizard. An inaccuracy? Yes. But does it really matter in principle?

Boris Nikolaevich not only spoke surprisingly truthfully about my fate, but also created a book that explained to the people of the Earth why we were able to defeat Hitler. Therefore, I believe that first of all Polevoy himself was a real person. Unlike those who are trying to "rewrite" our history today. A story written in the blood of millions of real people!..

"One of its pages was written by you...

- I took part in military operations since August 41 of the year. First on the Southern Front. I flew on an I-16 plane. It was a good plane, although it was short, it looked like a silver carp. I was an instructor. We were escorting our bombers as they bombed enemy ground forces...

On the Northwestern Front, we were assigned to an assault regiment. It was March. Our troops first surrounded the Germans in the area of Staraya Russa. But there was still, unfortunately, the corridor they were going down. The command knew that especially a lot of enemy equipment and manpower was concentrated in the city of Demyansk. Our regiment was assigned to defeat the enemy. The bombers and we - ten escort planes-flew as usual. The bombers "shot back", and we have no work: there are not a single enemy fighter in the sky! Another time, six planes had already flown - and again the same picture. The enemy aces were blown away. Then the commander says to us: fly now four of you... They flew. And in the sky-12 "messers"! Six of them came at us at once. We quickly got our bearings and got into position. They didn't save us, even though it was very hard...

In this battle, I was shot down. The plane's engine was damaged and oil leaked out. I had to make an emergency landing. It's all forest and swamp down there. Suddenly I see a lake in front of me (where does it come from?) - there is a chance to land the plane!.. Releasing the chassis. I hit the treetops and fell like a stone. Just a little short of the lake!.. I ended up in the woods. Polevoy described everything exactly as he crawled back to his own people. Well, unless they found me after 18 days, first not the boys, but some local resident. He was afraid. He told me to lie here for a while... I looked like I could have scared anyone... The boys, of course, were not afraid. That's what they're boys for!

As soon as I got to the hospital, I immediately decided for myself: I will seek to return to the ranks. It took four months for the treatment. But much more strength, physical and spiritual, was required to break through the "gap in the wall". They didn't want to take responsibility.

Still, I met some good people on my way. If it hadn't been for them, my life would have been different... Arrived, I remember, after one of the commissions in the regiment. It is necessary that they "fly" with me, give a conclusion that I am fit to fly. And the regimental commander, when he found out that I had no legs, refused: "I won't fly!" Said before the formation. Who would fly after that? But such a person was still found. He was either Georgian or Armenian... Unfortunately, I don't remember the last name. This wasn't the end of my ordeal. In Ivanovo, where I was then sent, there was another misunderstanding. I began to "break through" to Moscow. I took the train to Sokolniki! The commission met. Based on the results, I was allowed to conduct test flights. The surprise, I remember, was universal: "How so-without legs, and flies no worse, even better than others?!" When they found out that I had no legs, they didn't believe me at first. One day we arrive at the airfield. Partner, greeters-there was a severe frost-all in cnts. I'm the only one with shoes on. The commander asks: what, there are no shoes in the warehouse? I say, " No way! The software is fine. Only I don't need unts. I don't have any legs, and woodies don't care what the weather is like!" They believed in me, and I was back at the front...

I would like to emphasize that real Soviet people helped me return to my real life. If it wasn't for their help, their faith in my strength, I would never have become the Maresyev that is now known. And I really want to believe that disabled guys who return from hot spots - from the fronts where Russian people are fighting today-will also meet such people! There will be less rudeness and indifference in their lives. There will be less pain...

- Alexey Petrovich, you are one of the leaders of the All-Russian Committee of War Veterans. And, presumably, not only in word, but also in deed, you help your colleagues.

- The All-Russian, former All-Union Committee of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, of which I am the deputy chairman, is trying to help everyone. It is no secret that participants and invalids of war today are the least well-off part of society. We always help our friends in any way we can.

The state has almost withdrawn itself. It is possible to survive thanks to sponsorship donations, which are by no means frequent, and.. own commercial activity. Most of the people are elderly, and we are having a hard time getting used to the market. We registered the regional fund for war invalids. A store specializing in the sale of car parts was created under his management. Prices for disabled people are reduced, but just veterans buy our goods at preferential prices... The same applies to military personnel who have recently become disabled in the so-called hot spots...

I often see people with disabilities in the metro, and judging by their uniforms, some of them are combat veterans, if not all of them. They beg for alms. We should be ashamed and bitter! In the current social and economic conditions, people who lost their health in the war have no other choice. In order for them to get away from this, we must certainly "sort out" the economy. If Russia becomes a rich country again, it will be better for veterans to live.

But I repeat, I am primarily concerned about the distortions in the so-called spiritual sphere. What patriotic films were made before, what literature was read!.. It's not on Rimbaud films that young people should be educated! Art should instill a sense of patriotism in young people. Young people should be proud of their country's history!..

And we, veterans, as long as we are alive and well, will contribute to this in every possible way. We live by it.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the entire winged brotherhood, all front-line soldiers and veterans on Victory Day. We will be together, and then we can do a lot.

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