I just want to take this moment to say one thing — thank you, Americans. Let me tell you why.
I am a first-generation American. My parent’s families were oppressed and lost their property and their liberty. My grandfather was taken away to a work camp where he lost his life. My remaining family was put in cattle cars and shipped to indoctrination camps. Mom’s family survived the war in and out of refuge camps. Dad’s family was put to work on a polish farm. They fled one night by horse and wagon behind the German army as the Russians were advancing. The stories go on and on, and, they are true.
That said, it was America, with all its flaws, that came to our rescue. Without their involvement, the best case is that my family would have ended up in the Eastern Bloc under the rule of Joseph Stalin. And who knows how different my life would be today? Who knows if my family would have survived, or if I would even have been born.
Thankfully, Americans were marching on the other side, and my family ran towards them. One day, an American soldier pounded on the door with his rifle. My dad didn’t speak English, but he remembered the soldier saying, “Boy….. baby….” My dad was holding his baby brother in his arms.
My life may not have even been, if it had not been for that American soldier and his fellow soldiers. I wish I knew his name. I wish I could thank him personally for risking everything. For deciding to cross the ocean and fight against great odds.
America, Yes, you are messed up. Yes, you have your flaws. Yes, you have done some horrible things in your past. Despite all of that—you rescued me. You saved my family. For that, I am thankful and always will be.
Thank You Americans
Danny Kolke 