Not far from Ryazan, near the road, there is an old tractor on a pedestal. The tractor - the monument reminds us that during the Great Patriotic War people performed feats not only at the fronts, but also behind enemy lines - these were labor feats.
Biography
Daria Matveevna Garmash was born in 1919 on December 21. The girl's place of birth is the small village of Staroye in the Kiev region. She was born into a poor peasant family. The parents - Matvey Ivanovich and Oksana Filippovna had two daughters and three sons. Dasha's father died early from the wounds he received in the First World War. Mom raised the children alone, working around the clock. Dasha knew the value of work from an early age. She grew up an active, cheerful, hardworking child. She loved to sing, went to a singing circle, where she sang Ukrainian folk songs with pleasure. In those difficult years when Dasha was growing up, the people lived very poorly. It was hard for the girl's family. Children had to take jobs and serve the rich. There was no way to go to school. But, despite all the difficulties, Daria always wanted to learn. Thanks to her hard work and great desire, she managed to finish four classes. It was in Ukraine.
Start of labor activity
In 1932, when famine struck in the country, saving the children, Dasha's mother moved to the Ryazan region to her eldest son, who left there in 1920. They all began to live together on the Glebkovo-Divovo state farm. Here the girl finishes six classes and immediately goes to work at her state farm as a link. Then he works as a foreman.
During these years, the country began to equip state and collective farms with tractors. Seeing the first tractor that was sent to the state farm, she decided that she would certainly become a tractor driver. He finishes the courses that opened at the Rybnovsk MTS and immediately sits down at the tractor. Soon, she organizes a female tractor brigade.
Labor career
The Great Patriotic War of 1941 found Daria Matveyevna at the wheel of a tractor. This year she was appointed senior mechanic of the MTS (machine and tractor station). Throughout the war, the women's brigade of tractor drivers worked in the fields, not knowing the rest. The girls, led by Daria, worked 20 hours a day. She has always been a role model for her friends.
The first tractors did not have cabins. It was very cold to work on them in the fall and early spring, but the tractor drivers withstood all the difficulties. And it is no coincidence that the tractor on which the girls worked with Daria Matveyevna became a symbol of the great labor feat of women during the war.
Famous tractor driver awards
For her heroic work, Daria Matveevna Garmash was awarded many awards of the USSR. Among these awards are the Stalin Prize (1946), two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Lenin, medals and prizes. The famous tractor driver is a Hero of Socialist Labor.
Personal life
Daria Matveevna Garmash married Mikhail Ivanovich Metelkin before the war. They had two children - a daughter - Lyudmila and a son - Vladimir. In 1954, Mikhail died. A year later, she marries her former classmate - Kiselev Alexander Andreevich. They have a common son - Alexander.
Garmash Daria Matveevna died in 1988.
