The sky over Stalingard became the place where the war started for Musa Gareev, later on a twice Hero
of the Soviet Union. Gareev was born in Ilishevskiy district, studied in Railway Vocation School and was a member of Ufa Aeroclub. He finished an air war school and arrived in Stalingrad. There he made his first 11 successful flights. There he received his first medal.
During the Great Patriotic War Musa was a pilot, flight and squadron commander of Guard Assault Aviation Regiment No. 76. He took part in battles of Stalingrad, in Donbass, Crimea, Belarus, Poland and Germany. He accomplished about 250 missions.
After the war he took leading positions, finished Frunze Military Academy (1951) and Military Academy of the General Staff (1959). Between 1965 and 1977 he was a chairman of the Bashkir Republic Committee for DOSAAF. Gareev worked as an MP of the Supreme Council of the USSR of 2nd, 3d and 4th convocations.
Musa was awarded with the Order of Lenin, 3 Orders of Red Banner, the Order of Alexander Nevskiy, the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy III class, the Order of the Patriotic War I class, 3 Orders of the Red Star and medals.