Publisher's Synopsis
About the Book
Immigrant Soldier is the story of one immigrant's struggle from undergoing Soviet bombings in Tallinn, Estonia, to the devastation of the Dresden, Germany bombing in 1944 by the Allies. Then the uncertain years of living in a displaced persons camp after World War II in Germany. Born in Tartu, Estonia at the start of World War II in 1937, Raunam describes the struggle to understand the reason for all the random death and the fear of the unknown and for losing everything, almost.
He finds a new life in America and military service as well as new meaning in friends, love, fun, and the sheer joy of working for a country that he chose. He enlists as a private in the National Guard at age seventeen, then serves in combat, is decorated with a Silver Star and retires as a lieutenant colonel, aide de camp to General of the Army Omar N Bradley.
His lifelong desire to find his family takes on a new meaning with the fall of the Iron Curtain. The odyssey takes six trips to Germany, Estonia, and Russia to locate family members who did not know the status of each other's survival after World War II. He discovers the feeling of unbelievable joy to find out that one has a brother and sister and the celebration of finding each other.
About the Author
George J Raunam lives in Texas. He has five children, fifteen grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. He sees his family frequently and has hosted European family members in California and Texas to share their love for America. This is his first book about how to find lost family members and the Immigrant Spirit.
