Chicago, Illinois, 1958. It's hard to tell from this photo that Mr. Irene's Dad had emigrated from a DP camp and arrived in Chicago only nine years earlier. Those two years in the Army did a lot to speed up his assimilation to American culture.
Here's a family joke: both my Mom and Mr. Irene's Dad still speak accented English. Our families all now live in Wisconsin. When people ask Mom or Mr. Irene's Dad, "Where are you from?" both usually just say, "Chicago."
3 comments:
This is hilarious.
A lot of people in the 19th century enlisted in the Army (and ended up fighting Indians) for exactly that reason.
If one was not a U.S. citizen yet, then there were two good things about being drafted: (1) you were less likely to get sent to the front; and (2) the naturalization process sped up for you.
Post a Comment