Many of us have heard stories, watched movies, and seen pictures of World War II, but few of us have encountered them and witnessed the horrors. My grandpa, Igor Kalugin, was one of the very few people who survived WWII, while also helping men and women survive.

Enduring the harsh conditions was not an easy situation. Many people died or were severely injured. My grandpa was one of these few people. He encountered numerous life-threatening situations that only God could have manipulated. Not only did my grandpa survive the war but he helped many sick, hurt and injured people survive as well.

He grew up in Warsaw, Poland, where the Germans invaded in 1939. He witnessed many young women and children suffer and even lose their lives. His friends who he grew up with, died in front of his eyes. Yet God always found a way for my grandpa. Even in the hard situations, my grandpa was able to survive.

A German sniper is often touted as one of the most highly skilled soldiers in during WWII. The accuracy of the shooters is very advanced. Very few people, can say that they have been sniped at and survived.

My grandpa looked through the window of his apartment one day trying to see out into the street. A German saw him. All of a sudden a rush of air knocked my grandpa to the ground. The bullet missed his head by only a few centimeters. Even though my grandpa was not struck by the bullet, it was still very painful. The speed of the bullet was swift. He said it was like taking a hammer to the head.

The likelihood of just surviving that seems amazing to me. But God kept my grandpa safe and he used his saved life for the benefit of others. Through the war my grandpa was constantly looking for ways to help others. Even if it was just helping a family get to a train station, God used him to help others even in the toughest situation.

A young widow and her son needed to go to a train station on the other side of Warsaw. The mother had tuberculosis, and was very weak. My grandpa knew that once he got to the station the Germans would not let him come back. But that would not stop him from helping others.

Imagine a sick women leaning on a young man who is carrying their heavy suitcases and then holding her son firmly by the arm so he wouldn’t wander off on the side of the road where grenades were planted. That sounds absolutely miserable for the young man, who happened to be my grandpa.

When my grandpa was trying to get back from the station, he came to a point check armed with Germans. Every time he came to the point check, he would tell the officers that he had left his suitcase, and point just on the other side of the point check. He did this for every single point check he came across until he could see his family waiting for him on the other side.

Traveling across Europe during WWII could lead to either safety or danger. Unfortunately a few years after Poland was invaded, my grandpa and his family were captured. My grandpa never told us many details about why or where he was captured, but he told us many stories about what happened to him next.

In WWII movies, such as The Hiding Place, concentration camps may be a prominent topic. During the war there were many camps all over Europe. People suffered and died in these death traps. You never knew what would happen when there. It wasn’t just concentration camps that were like this, labor camps were very similar and just as scary.

Labor camps differed from concentration camps in that the labor camps consisted of more work and less torture. One of the only similarities is that the people in both the labor camps and the concentration camps eat the same food.

My grandpa and his family were in one of these labor camps, living in the broiler room. Fear struck them constantly, for they did not know what might happen to them at the camp. Then one day a SS officer came to the camp. A SS officer is a very feared high class Nazi official. The fear that they felt of just being near their presence was terrifying.

One of the guards who worked at the labor camp came down to the broiler room, delivering news that the SS officer requested to see them. Terror struck the whole family. When they approached the SS officer, they realized that the guards had been told to go away. But the officer smiled when they came near him, and told them that when he was in Poland, a pastor had told him that if he could help my grandpa’s family in any way that he should. God was truly helping my grandpa and his family.

After the visit from the SS officer, my grandpa and his family were sent to a farm in Germany where they remained for the next few months. Despite the hardships and suffering of the war, God always found a way for my grandpa and his family. Surviving the war was nearly impossible but with God anything is possible.

For more opinions, please read COMMENTARY: Admiral James Stavridis shares insights into global security.