This is a great pencil for a great writer, so that you can always write down a thought, an idea, a plot, or someone’s name. This is a gift to you, dear Vitaly Aleksandrovich, from the Rostov Regional Committee of the CPSU and the Regional Executive Committee.

[To the] Writer, Warrior, Farmer, Researcher, Laureate, Deputy.” Zakrutkin stood up, hugged Pivovarov, and said that this was a most touching and heartfelt gift, “A pencil is my devoted and true friend that was with me throughout my military path from the Don land to Berlin and Prague. It survived fierce battles, the loss of friends, large and small victories, took pictures with me against the backdrop of the defeated Reichstag and the blooming gardens of the Czechia. It helped me fill the pages of front-line notebooks, was always with me, in the pocket of my tunic or field bag, in a duffel bag or in a glasses case.

It was thanks to this simple lead pencil, or a red or blue one, that my essays, sketches, and entire books appeared. We remember the names of the heroes of the Battle of the Caucasus who died their heroic deaths, leaving us forever. The names of heroes of many battles were written on separate notebook sheets during street battles in Berlin, during the siege of the city… I am very grateful to the pencil, which has preserved the images of soldiers and commanders, full of nobility and honor, dreaming of peace and love on the long-suffering Earth.