The Heart of It All: Life with a Patriot and Warrior

By Juliane

He was born to adventure, following in the footsteps of a Russian grandfather on his father’s side and an Irish grandfather on his mother’s side. Being the first and only grandson for the first ten years of his life, he learned about adventure, war, and life, sitting at the feet of these two great men. He was a force from the beginning, and he knew exactly where he wanted to go, despite the desires and wishes of his family. This story is about many of his remarkable achievements, his love of his country, and his persistent sense of duty even until his last days.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369410219

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The Heart of It All

Life with a Patriot and Warrior

Juliane

Copyright © 2023 by Juliane.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/23/2023

Xlibris

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1 Beginnings

Chapter 2 University Years and Patriotic Duty

Chapter 3 Beginnings of a New Kind

Chapter 4 Wedding to Plan and New Assignments

Chapter 5 French Connection

Chapter 6 Traveling Adventures

Chapter 7 Next Assignment

Chapter 8 Looking Forward to Things to Come

Chapter 9 Struggles of War

Chapter 10 Post War

Chapter 11 New Beginnings

Chapter 12 Starting Over Again

Chapter 13 Life is Mellowing

Chapter 14 Beginning of Troubled Time

Chapter 15 Anxious Times

Epilogue

PROLOGUE

I T IS A sunny day, somewhat chilly, then, February in Washington, DC can be chilly, snowy, and sometimes covered with ice and sleet. We are lucky that it is sunny, and the snow storms of the last week have subsided, because we would not have been able to have the full military honors for him. I remember several years earlier, after attending the burial of one of his comrades, a group of us sitting around the table at the house of our good friends, and the men all planning their military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery. They were very much the patriots, everyone loving their country and would have valiantly died for her, some of them barely escaping while carrying out their assignments over the span of fifty years. Today, we are at Arlington Cemetery with wonderful friends and family and three Catholic priests, who have become good friends over the years, granting my husband’s last wish. I am a proud military wife as the Military Honor guard lifts his casket onto the caisson, and we start the walk to the gravesite. The caisson is being pulled by four beautiful white horses; the Honor Guard is behind the caisson, with the Air Force Band following behind them. I have a chill as we reach the gravesite, but my very loving granddaughter is close by with her arm in mine. The family is seated in front of the casket, and the ceremony begins. It is so touching and emotional as they present the 21-gun salute; play taps, then prayers were said by all three of the priests and the military chaplain. As I watch the honor guard fold the flag that covered the casket, the tears start to come, and my granddaughter snuggles up even closer. The Captain of the Guard presents the folded flag to me, and beautiful sentiments and comforting words are given by a representative from the Arlington Ladies, the Air Force Chaplain, and from all the priests. The red roses that I brought are placed on the casket by all the family members before we de part.

It was the end of a wonderful, adventurous life. I know, as he looked down from his place in heaven, he was touched by all the friends along with family that came from long distances to say a last goodbye. He had good friends that came from New York, some came from New Jersey, those I had only known from phone conversations, a friend from Wisconsin, some friends from Florida, and even a very old friend from his high school days at Chaminade. There were others that he had worked with over the years and new friends from later years. It was beautiful and so comforting.

In his life, he was a force. He was an American through and through, strong in his convictions, purposeful in his actions, loyal and faithful to God and country. For him, it was God, Country and Family in that order. I understood and never ceased to be proud.

CHAPTER I

Beginnings

H E WAS BORN in 1933 in Flushing, New York, to a mother of Irish descent, a fiery redhead who had a huge determining influence in his life goals and attitudes, and to a father who was also from an immigrant family. His paternal grandfather arrived at Ellis Island soon after the revolution in Russia. He came from the region of Russian territory known as Georgia and was military as most Cossacks were, serving with the Russian Army and had pledged allegiance to the Tsar. At the time of the Revolution in Russia, many members of the Tsar’s army were hunted down and executed, so his grandfather was lucky to escape with his family to Lithuania, eventually looking for passage to America. It is understood that his grandfather’s brothers and families were executed leaving no other relatives in Russia. His grandfather told him many stories about his life both in Russia and Lithuania, of which I know only a few. Supposedly, his grandfather left Russia with a wife and two children, a boy and a girl. At some time or other, his first wife died, he then met a Norwegian woman and married her. They had two children, a boy and girl, and the family of six came to America. It is hard to establish a time line as anyone knowing the history has long since departed; we do know this man, my warrior, inherited the fiery temperament of the Irish and the Russian temperament of dogged determination and forth- righteousness, but was also instilled with the melancholy and compassion so wonderfully exhibited by Russian men. It was a beautiful combination, and I can truly say, ‘He was a f orce’.

Being the first born and only child for ten years, his mother doted on him, and he had many great experiences as a child. Once a week they would embark on a new adventure in New York City, to see a movie, or a play, or visit the Automat, or shop at Macy’s. He related a story of a time shopping at Macy’s, and how he caused his mother to be frantic when she turned around and could not find him. He had quietly slipped away and was discovered hiding in the bottom of a department store counter. It was a rascally boy thing, but I am sure his Irish mother was not at all amused. He was the darling in his parent’s social strata, and on weekends, there were Polo matches and parties with newspaper people like the publication mogul E. W. Hurst and his influential friends. Because his mother was determined that her son would be the brightest child living she started teaching him to read very early on. He didn’t disappoint her, reading and reciting from memory very well at the age of five. He remembers standing on a stage in a Christmas pageant, wearing his pajamas, reciting "The Night Before Christmas.

It was not the only time he took command of a stage. His mother had enrolled him in Alviny’s in NYC. It was a school for theatrics, and many famous Hollywood stars were graduates of the school, Tyrone Power, for one. At about age 8 or 9 he read for the roll of Whitney in Life with Father and got the part. While he was in rehearsal, the Director told his mother that they were going to dye his hair red as was needed for the part, but there was no way she would allow them to dye his hair red, so she pulled him out of the show. His life may have gone another whole direction if she had left him there.

He continued at Alviny’s until the teacher wanted him to take ballet. That did it for him, and he took himself out of the theater business.

Along with his childhood friends, he was a devil of a boy, and they pulled off many pranks. I remember the story he told, of some of the neighborhood boys and himself, taking a magnifying glass to an open field where the grass was long and dry. When the glass was positioned just right, a fire was in the making, then they all ran home to watch for the fire engines to come put out the fire. Also, there was the time, they poured gasoline on the rear end of the neighbor’s cat, opened their back door to let the cat run all over the house screeching madly. At that time, it was boyish mischief because they didn’t have 24-hour programming on TV or any video games to keep them inside, so they mischievously manufactured their own fun.

At age ten, he was no longer an only child. A brother was born, and he was proud to be a big brother. Then came high school, and he had many other pursuits, and found another passion, one of public speaking and debate. As head of the Debate team at Chaminade High School, he won many trophies for the school, and in his senior year, went to Colorado to win the National Debate Society Trophy. Also, while in high school, he learned about horses from an Argentinian classmate. On Saturdays, they would go to a place on Long Island that had horses for sale, green horses that had to be broken. Not too safe of a pastime, but he learned from his Argentinian friend how to break the green horses; his friend teaching him well, and from then on, he had a love and passion for horses, passing on to his own son that passion. As expected, he was Valedictorian at his high school graduation and won a scholarship for Debate to Fordham University.

CHAPTER II

University Years and Patriotic Duty

T HIS WAS AN interesting time for him even though Fordham University was not of his choosing entirely. His dream was to go to West Point, because the desire to be a soldier was in his blood, The influence of his Russian grandfather was strong, as was his maternal grandfather who had another large influence on his life. His maternal grandfather had a very unusual history, was born in Tennessee, and at age 14 was an orphan. He found his way to New York, securing a place on an ocean steamer as a cabin boy, and sailed out to places afar. He eventually landed in England, joined the British Army, and was shipped out to Africa and Rhodesia for a gold rush, and to fight not only in the Matabele land uprising, but he also fought in the Boer War. All these things were related to the grandson, making a lasting impression, and why for years, we had to watch the movie Zulu many times over. His maternal grandfather, also as a young man, went to Germany and studied at Heidelberg University, finally coming back to America and to Columbia University to study pharmacy. After marrying a nurse, he had fallen in love with, who was an immigrant from County Claire, Ireland, he settled down in Bayside, NY owning his own pharmacy which included an old-fashioned ice cream soda fountain. He practiced old fashioned pharmacy, often mixing his own prescribed medicine after learning of the nature of their illness. He was quite the gentleman, and as his grandson remembers, he was always in white collar, tie and suit jacket unless he was at home reading his German newspaper, then he relaxed without the tie, collar and jacket. This grandfather was very important in