Naum Kravets with his sister Rena and his mother Shifra Kravets

The picture was taken when I was given vacation after being discharged from the hospital. My sister Rena Kravets and I are sitting, my mother Shifra Kravets is standing. The picture was taken in Moscow in 1944. I decided to go to the front as a volunteer. In July 1942 together with my fellow students I went to the headquarters of the Ural military circle requesting to be drafted into the lines. In January 1943 I finished school and was assigned to the 15th separate reconnoiter regiment of the Baltic Navy, which was conferred the Red Banner twice. I had to go to Leningrad where the main regiment forces were positioned. I was assigned as operator of the radar station. They decided to include me in the crew of the regiment commander. I think I survived owing to a great crew of pilots. Then I was taught how to shoot. I was an air navigator on planes. I cannot say that my first battle was the hardest. It was scary all the time. But the feeling of fear was momentous during the first seconds of flight. There was a brutal fear when leaving aerodrome: there were creeps and a lump in the throat. But it did not last long as you see the eyes of your fellow who got over that feeling. When the work is done, you do not fear just get focused on things to be done. You are to be responsible. Then you calm down. I corresponded with my mother during the war. Once in 1944 after being hospitalized due to a plane crash, I was even given a one-week leave and visited my relatives. My mother and sister lived in Moscow at that time. They had come back from Chimkent. My mother and sister remained in our apartment. I came back there after demobilization in 1950.