A true story about my friend Steve and Nazis..and fighting them in WWII

[Stuart G]

About two hours ago, I saw my friend Steve at the food store. We talked for a while and I told him I might see him tomorrow at the local park district indoor walking track. I have known him maybe 10 or 12 years, and we walk together at that track, and discuss whatever there is to be discussed. Steve is in his late 80s. When he was in his teens, (he lived in Poland then) the Nazis came into his home and killed his mother and father. He somehow managed to flee to the east. He kept going east until he got through to the Soviet Union..He kept going east. Eventually he met and joined the Soviet Army fighting the Germans. So he fought with the Soviets against the Nazis during WWII. (quite a few stories, but some other time)

He survived the war and was somewhere in Berlin, when he met up with the U.S. Army..He told him his story, and the U.S Army asked Steve if he had a relatives in the U.S.A. He knew some English, so he pointed to a map of the U.S.A..(there was a bright star around a town in Illinois, Springfield the state capital), so he said Springfield.. so the U.S. Army, after hearing that he had no family, and fought against the Nazis, sent him as a token of his experience, to Springfield Illinois to live. He worked his way up to the Chicago Area, and after a few years, Steve enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for a few years. Afterwards he met his wife and they got married and he had a couple of daughters and a number of grandchildren. His wife died a few years ago.

...Now Steve became a U.S. citizen, and after service in the Army, (he was stationed in Germany for a while).he found a job and has had a decent and honorable life. I know him only from the park district track and he is a kind and honest man. Yesterday, he gave me some tomatoes that he grew in his garden.......so here is the question....

Who represents the U.S.A. better? This man Steve who came to the U.S.A after fighting against the Nazis with the Soviets, and joined the Army, ..or the jerks who call themselves Nazis and caused the violence in Charlottesville yesterday? ..

Sure it is a loaded question...so what? Steve has more integrity than the current President of the United States, and all those idiots who caused the violence in Charlottesville put together..

[yonder]

1. K&R

[DFW]

2. I knew a guy like that

A little younger, he was a displaced Russian-speaking Ukranian who ended up with US forces at the end of the war as a young teenager. The army guys asked him if he wanted them to get him back to the Soviet Union or if he wanted them to arrange for him to go to America. He opted for the USA. He first landed in Utah, married, had children, but when they were shunned by Mormon kids in school (Igor was obviously no Mormon), he moved on to southern California so they could have a normal life. He never lost his accent, but he was a better American than the Charlottesville killers.

[Stuart G]

3. Thank You for your story..And there are many more stories like that..

I think your term, Charlottesville Killers, is quite appropriate.

[DFW]

5. Unfortunately, I agree

Those that weren't would gladly HAVE been, given the chance.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Steve IS America...

I grew up in a nice neighborhood in Queens (around the corner from Trump, btw) and it was maybe half Jewish. Some of the Jewish families lost everything in the war, including family members. Some other eastern European families were there, who also lost everything.

Some in the neighborhood were doctors, lawyers, business owners and other mainstays of the community. Some were just good, solid citizens.

They all made this country what it is.

[ProudLib72]

6. When I lived in Albuquerque I went to Friday night services

that were led by a survivor. I forget what camp he was in, but he had the numbers on his arm. He was not a rabbi. He just liked to lead the congregation, and he was good at it. The congregation was comprised of mostly elderly folks, and eventually there was a death of one of the members. The family asked the leader of the congregation to preside over the funeral service. He was all for it until he learned that the man was going to be cremated. He put his foot down. No way was he going to preside over a service for someone who was cremated. It reminded him too much of the concentration camp.

You know, I've met quite a few survivors. They all have tales of unimaginable terror, but they all (for the most part) project a normal demeanor. They fit in like they are nothing out of the ordinary. It's when crap like Charlottesville happens that I think about the survivors and wonder what they would say about Nazis killing people in American streets.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. And I think the same of all those 'illegals' who joined the US military

and we're promised a path to citizenship. Then along came Idiot Amin and they've been deported.

Better Americans than the WSU Young Repub president.