improve for us. Shortly after this the lines were redrawn and lo, we were in the Russian Zone. That was not good! Since we started out in the British Zone, the British moved us into their new zone. We were taken to various Displaced Persons (DP) Camps in and around Pine and Hildesheim near Hannover where Danuta and I were able to go to school and take part in Children's programs and activities. Danuta went to school in the DP camp and I was put in a boarding school in Hann-Munden for Displaced Persons where I was taught trades along with some regular Polish studies. There was nothing for Mom and Dad to do for four years but the wait was worth it; we were brought to Bennington.
There were War Relief Services to assist all of us in the DP camps to apply for resettlement and life in other countries. The displaced persons that would be selected to come to America were given comprehensive health, mental and occupation examinations to see that they really wanted to come and would be willing to put forth effort to make a place for themselves in society. Dad went to Hannover and filled out papers stating that he is a blacksmith and was ready to go to a free country. Meanwhile, in Kansas, on May 1, 1949, Walter Baugh was filling out papers at the Catholic Church to sponsor a blacksmith to come and work in his blacksmith shop.
Then came the day when we were notified that we would go to America. I was notified at the school and rode on the train to join my family. We went to Bremerhaven, Germany where we were given physical examinations and immunizations and were questioned for clearance to enter the USA. We sailed out of Bremerhaven on a sheep boat. The trip that took about nine days was rough, Mother, Danuta and I were sick the entire time. Once we saw the Statue of Liberty, we were all well. We sailed into the New York Harbor in the afternoon of October24, 1949. Since we were already cleared medically, we just went through customs where our few belongings were inspected. We received our train tickets and $15.00 from the War Relief Services of The National Catholic Welfare Conference and we went right to the train. We were overwhelmed and we were afraid because we did not know what lie ahead for us. We did not eat on the train because Mother said that we may need that money later and that we needed to get where we were going before we spend any of that $15.00. We left New York around 8:35 PM and rode through St. Louis and Kansas City.
We arrived in Salina, Kansas around 8:10AM on October 26, 1949. There was Walter Baugh waiting for us, what a sight to behold. We got off the train and there were no more customs, no more inspections, no more guns pointed at us, no more big Nazi boots to kick me, but there were a lot of reporters. The reporters were asking us questions and we had no idea what they were saying. We loaded our things into Walter's 1942 Hudson and headed to Bennington. Walter did not speak Polish or German and we did not speak any English, well Dad and I knew a few English words. I wound up being the "interpreter" and my parents were real proud of me when I would tell them something that Walter had said. He told me that the name of the next town to Bennington was Minneapolis; well I told my family that there is a place nearby that has many apples, (many apples/Minneapolis). Too bad that this wasn't recorded, we would probably hear some very interesting things now.
We came into Bennington and went to the Baugh home. We met Kathryn and their three children, Ikie, Archie and Susan.  Kathryn prepared a meal for us and we thought what a wonderful lady and her family to do all of this for us. We then went to Ross's house where we unloaded our things and slept in a real bed. This was indeed a miracle



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