Although simply told, Pete's story is sweeping in its scope and epic in its tragedy. My mother-in-law, Helen, now in her 80s, is a model of strength and faith in the face of terrifying adversities. As the saying goes, they don't make them like her anymore.
Helen fled her home to escape the Soviet Union with only the clothes on her back. Her brothers and sisters remained behind in Latvia, and they and their families suffered the consequences--prison sentences in Siberia, crushing poverty and Communist oppression at home. After the collapse of communism, Helen was able to visit Latvia and enjoy a family reunion after nearly 50 years of separation.
She endured the hardships of the refugee camps in Germany. Can you imagine your firstborn child dying on the very day you give birth to your second baby? I can't even begin to fathom such emotional devastation. Her second baby was sickly. At five weeks old, he weighed the same as he did at birth. The army doctor in the refugee camp told Helen that he probably wouldn't live.
Today, he is my husband, Pete, in his 50s, 6'4" tall, over 200 lbs., and a cancer survivor.
I'm gratified that President Bush has acknowledged and emphasized the terrible injustice that was perpetrated upon the people of the Baltic states. They were carelessly handed over to Stalin's brutal regime, and their suffering was cheerfully forgotten by history.
Until President Bush's visit, today.
Today, Fox News reported that:
"Bush placed a wreath at the Latvian Freedom Monument, a towering obelisk symbolizing this small country's struggle for independence. While he is unpopular across much of Europe because of the Iraq war, Bush got a warm welcome here.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented Bush with the nation's top honor, the Three-Star Order, calling him a "signal fighter of freedom and democracy in the world."
I recall reading that when the Iraq war started, Latvian President Vike-Freiberga made a remark to the effect that "it is easy to tolerate a dictator if one has not had to live under that dictator." The Latvian president was a young girl during the turmoil after Yalta, and she knows of what she speaks. It is no wonder that free Latvia supports our president's foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Paldies, President Bush. Thank you.
