Vladimir Magonov

Vladimir Magonov

This story is dedicated with love to my number one relative, Vladimir Magonov, who cherished his friends, ideals, wife and his only daughter. To the cherished memory of all the firemen…dead and still alive.

My uncle was born to be a fireman. When he was a child he burnt his hand. Since that time, he disliked fire. Once he tried to put out the fire in the stove. The neighbor even cracked a joke, “He will be a real fireman.” Many a true word is spoken in jest. And so it happened he became a fireman. At the age of 24, he married a nice girl. The couple was said to be a perfect one. But as it often happens, there was no real happiness in the family. Both loved children, but for some reason, for five years, they had no children. My uncle was in seventh heaven when a long-awaited girl appeared in the family. His life assumed a new aspect. He lived for his wife and his daughter.

Chernobyl - 1986 - World's Worst Nuclear Disaster (ki4u.com)

1986. His daughter was nearly one year old. April 26. Strange as it might seem, he came home much earlier. A pleasant smile on his face. Anxiety in the eyes. A short talk with his wife and two hours later he was in the bus leaving for Chernobyl from Gomel. He promised to be back soon. And really in two days he was home.

map of Chernobyl Disaster Area (world-nuclear.org)

But he was a different man, not the one we had known before. He looked as if he had worked for a week without a single minute of rest. We thought it was tiredness, but the next day he had to go to the hospital. And then we understood the seriousness of the whole matter when he was advised to go to Moscow to undergo a course of medical treatment. By no means did he want to show his relatives he was ill. He pretended to be well. He joked and told different stories, but he didn’t tell us what he really was doing at Chernobyl. Only a year later, we learnt they were collecting fragments of bricks, concrete, and steel rein for cement. It was very dangerous for their health, but nobody said to what degree it was dangerous. They didn’t work long. There were a lot of shifts there. But for some people 20 minutes was enough to feel sick. The radiation level was too high.

In Moscow, at radiation centre, doctors did everything possible to help people. My uncle wasn’t the only patient. There were some firemen who were much worse than my uncle. Soon they died. My uncle was strong enough to get over his illness. In a month he was well again. He was only 30. He wanted to work, but he was forced to retire. The doctors advised him to leave Gomel and he left for Ryazan (Russia) where he bought a house. The government paid him, and being on disability pension, he got good money. Everything seemed as it used to be.

My uncle had a lot of free time which he devoted to his daughter. She was the light of his life. Each year he had his health test. I guess now not everything was alright. But he used to say, “I am in order." Till the last month we didn’t know about his illness. Only a month before his death the doctors said he had no chance to live. They could do nothing about it. The last day was an ordinary day in his life. He died of cancer at night. Nobody noticed it. It seemed he didn’t want to disturb anybody.

I will always remember him as the man who sacrificed his life to save us all.