I fought the Nazis when I was Irina's age... but I'm so proud of her and I want her to marry Cristiano Ronaldo
Posted Tuesday, May 10, 2011 by The Sun
War heroine ... Irina's grandmother Galina Shaykhislamova shows off her impressive medal collection
Flicking through a Spanish glamour magazine featuring some of Irina's less racy recent pictures, Galina says: "Our lives are so very different but I could not be more proud of my Ira and her work."
Yesterday Galina was also on parade - but in her case in uniform, her chest emblazoned with distinguished awards, as she is every year to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, in which she showed amazing heroism.
In 1942, when she was 18 - the age Irina was when she began wowing the West - Galina begged to be enlisted.
She was deployed as an intelligence agent by Stalin on the front line of the Red Army's surge through eastern Europe.
Her role was to pinpoint key Nazi troops and strategic targets so they could be attacked by air or land.
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