Last week, I registered on Ancestry.Com. I was surprised to find some records on my Father: Janos Goda. They are all U.S. records, but one that really choked me up. I discovered the ship he came here on in 1957 as a refugee from the Hungarian Revolution. Finding that record that gave me courage to keep going. In his whole life, he had so much pain and regret about having to leave his family behind. He was just 22 years old and left in the dead of winter arriving in New York for processing on the General Leroy Eltinge and arrived on January 30th 1957. I remember him telling us the tears he had in his eyes seeing the famed "Statue of Liberty" and the bittersweet feelings of joy that he had that he made it coupled with the desperation he felt for his Grandmother and family members left behind and the uncertainty of what was to be.
I remember many stories about his escape from the Soviets as they crushed his country. Having been either drafted or due for mandatory military service into the Russian Army, my father's official title was "Tank Commander". The year before his draft he worked at a Grocery Store and despite being made to create propaganda signs to post outside the store (he was always very artistic), he enjoyed his spare time listening to contraband "swing music" "Elvis" and the great American Jazz heroes of his time. He was an amazing dancer and story teller and always a charming gentleman.
Previous to that his life had much more tragedy, escape from near death, horrific events that unfolded as a child watching the Nazis invade his city and country ( I will save those stories for another time).
Despite it all, he held on to a steadfast faith in God and the goodness in people and did his best to maintain a sense of optimism, though he had his days. Painful memories would flood back time and again however, through it all, he always found a reason to be grateful, especially to the United States for saving his life, taking him in and giving him endless opportunities.
