thedrifter
07-05-08, 07:24 AM
Immigrants who gave their all for America
7 Illinoisans born overseas named citizens after losing their lives as members of the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan
By Russell Working | Chicago Tribune reporter
11:57 PM CDT, July 3, 2008
On the day he was buried, Pfc. Dawid Pietrek became an American.
Pietrek had come to west suburban Bensenville from Poland, joined the Marines and died June 14 when his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, as the nation prepared for its 4th of July celebration, Pietrek was laid to rest. In death, he became the 116th member of the armed forces—and the seventh from Illinois—to be posthumously named a U.S. citizen since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began in 2001.
The seven honored from Illinois emigrated from the Philippines, Mexico, India, Lithuania and Poland, representing a melting pot that is America.
"There's something very American about Immigration and about these young people who come and serve in the armed forces," said Jonathan Scharfen, a retired Marine and acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Pietrek "volunteered, clearly knowing he would be in combat. I find something inspirational in that."
Scharfen was at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday presenting Pietrek's citizenship certificate to his mother, Dorota, who had flown in from Poland to attend her son's funeral.
Pietrek, 24, was given full military honors: a 21-round salute, the playing of taps and fellow Marines in dress blues presenting his mother with a folded American flag.
"He told me several times that everything he's doing over there [in Afghanistan], it's his job, and he was trying to do it in the best way," Dorota Pietrek said. "He was proud of what he was doing, and I was proud too."
About 35,033 non-citizens have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, composing 2 percent of the 1.7 million troops who have served in those countries, according to the Pentagon. Some join for the military's educational benefits, some for a fast track to citizenship, but most have reasons not easily categorized.
A military tradition
Lake Forest resident Sgt. Uday Singh, 21, came from a family with a tradition of warriors. The Army Humvee gunner died in 2003 after his patrol was attacked in Habbaniyah, Iraq. He was posthumously named a U.S. citizen in 2004.
"To lose your only son, everything becomes meaningless . . . but I think it's a recognition of what he did," said Preet Mahinder Singh, of his son's being honored.
This week Preet Mahinder Singh traveled from India to Arlington National Cemetery to visit his son's grave. The family visits the cemetery twice a year.
Uday Singh was a member of the Sikh faith, whose members have a storied military reputation throughout the former British Empire. The young sergeant's grandfather served in the military, his family said. And his father was an officer in an Indian armored division and took part in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani conflict.
After immigrating to the United States, Uday Singh joined the Army in 2000 and was later deployed to Iraq. He wrote to his family, "By the way, I got promoted to gunner but as far as life expectancy goes, I got demoted 'cause I am standing on a Hummer with my body exposed and I am the easiest target. But don't worry, I will be back."
To his family's anguish, he didn't make it. After his cremation in Chandigarh, India, some of his remains were sprinkled in the rivers of India's Punjab region, the traditional homeland of Sikhs. The rest were buried in Arlington. His family said he had begun the naturalization process shortly before his death.
Marines at doorstep
Danuta Kowalik of Schaumburg, a Pole who immigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1992, had long pushed her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jakub Kowalik, to become naturalized as an American. Though he spoke English better than anyone in the family, he never seemed to have time to get his citizenship. He said he would complete the process after he was deployed to Iraq.
The day before his death, in 2003, he called his mother to wish her a happy Mother's Day. So when Marines showed up in the middle of the night to tell his mother he had died, she insisted that there was a mistake.
"I'm telling them all the time, 'I spoke with my son yesterday,' " she said. "And they're saying to me, 'Mrs. Kowalik, but it was yesterday. . . . And he's not alive anymore. He was killed. It was explosion.' "
For Danuta Kowalik—as perhaps for all mothers—the loss of her son was "a black hole" in her life.
She has antipathy for the war, yet said she is proud to be an American. So when the Marines suggested it, she decided to pursue citizenship for her fallen son. He was posthumously naturalized on what would have been his 22nd birthday.
"He was in service not being a citizen, and then suddenly he became a citizen by being killed," she said. "But still, [citizenship] was a great thing. He got something that he dreamt all the time: to be a citizen."
A dark premonition
Living in Police, Poland, Dawid Pietrek also dreamed of becoming an American citizen when he set out on a grand adventure after winning the U.S. government's green card lottery in 2005.
"He considered this as his life's luckiest moment, the beginning of something new and amazing," said the young Marine's uncle, Marcin Huniewicz, who came from his home in Iceland to attend Tuesday's funeral.
When Pietrek enlisted last year, his mother, a human resources coordinator at a fire station in northwest Poland, supported her son, even if she was worried.
But on June 14, Dorota Pietrek felt a dark premonition and began watching the news for any information about attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, she said recently, speaking through an interpreter. She learned that four Marines had been killed by a roadside bomb.
Several hours later, two Marines from the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw showed up at her door. Her son had warned her what this would mean.
When immigrants die in the U.S. armed forces, their immediate family members are given preference if they wish to immigrate. For now, Dorota Pietrek will return to Poland, but she might wish to move here someday, she said, to be closer to her son's grave.
"I have a bumper sticker on my car that says, 'I am the proud mother of a U.S. Marine.' "
rworking@tribune.com
Ellie
7 Illinoisans born overseas named citizens after losing their lives as members of the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan
By Russell Working | Chicago Tribune reporter
11:57 PM CDT, July 3, 2008
On the day he was buried, Pfc. Dawid Pietrek became an American.
Pietrek had come to west suburban Bensenville from Poland, joined the Marines and died June 14 when his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, as the nation prepared for its 4th of July celebration, Pietrek was laid to rest. In death, he became the 116th member of the armed forces—and the seventh from Illinois—to be posthumously named a U.S. citizen since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began in 2001.
The seven honored from Illinois emigrated from the Philippines, Mexico, India, Lithuania and Poland, representing a melting pot that is America.
"There's something very American about Immigration and about these young people who come and serve in the armed forces," said Jonathan Scharfen, a retired Marine and acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Pietrek "volunteered, clearly knowing he would be in combat. I find something inspirational in that."
Scharfen was at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday presenting Pietrek's citizenship certificate to his mother, Dorota, who had flown in from Poland to attend her son's funeral.
Pietrek, 24, was given full military honors: a 21-round salute, the playing of taps and fellow Marines in dress blues presenting his mother with a folded American flag.
"He told me several times that everything he's doing over there [in Afghanistan], it's his job, and he was trying to do it in the best way," Dorota Pietrek said. "He was proud of what he was doing, and I was proud too."
About 35,033 non-citizens have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, composing 2 percent of the 1.7 million troops who have served in those countries, according to the Pentagon. Some join for the military's educational benefits, some for a fast track to citizenship, but most have reasons not easily categorized.
A military tradition
Lake Forest resident Sgt. Uday Singh, 21, came from a family with a tradition of warriors. The Army Humvee gunner died in 2003 after his patrol was attacked in Habbaniyah, Iraq. He was posthumously named a U.S. citizen in 2004.
"To lose your only son, everything becomes meaningless . . . but I think it's a recognition of what he did," said Preet Mahinder Singh, of his son's being honored.
This week Preet Mahinder Singh traveled from India to Arlington National Cemetery to visit his son's grave. The family visits the cemetery twice a year.
Uday Singh was a member of the Sikh faith, whose members have a storied military reputation throughout the former British Empire. The young sergeant's grandfather served in the military, his family said. And his father was an officer in an Indian armored division and took part in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani conflict.
After immigrating to the United States, Uday Singh joined the Army in 2000 and was later deployed to Iraq. He wrote to his family, "By the way, I got promoted to gunner but as far as life expectancy goes, I got demoted 'cause I am standing on a Hummer with my body exposed and I am the easiest target. But don't worry, I will be back."
To his family's anguish, he didn't make it. After his cremation in Chandigarh, India, some of his remains were sprinkled in the rivers of India's Punjab region, the traditional homeland of Sikhs. The rest were buried in Arlington. His family said he had begun the naturalization process shortly before his death.
Marines at doorstep
Danuta Kowalik of Schaumburg, a Pole who immigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1992, had long pushed her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jakub Kowalik, to become naturalized as an American. Though he spoke English better than anyone in the family, he never seemed to have time to get his citizenship. He said he would complete the process after he was deployed to Iraq.
The day before his death, in 2003, he called his mother to wish her a happy Mother's Day. So when Marines showed up in the middle of the night to tell his mother he had died, she insisted that there was a mistake.
"I'm telling them all the time, 'I spoke with my son yesterday,' " she said. "And they're saying to me, 'Mrs. Kowalik, but it was yesterday. . . . And he's not alive anymore. He was killed. It was explosion.' "
For Danuta Kowalik—as perhaps for all mothers—the loss of her son was "a black hole" in her life.
She has antipathy for the war, yet said she is proud to be an American. So when the Marines suggested it, she decided to pursue citizenship for her fallen son. He was posthumously naturalized on what would have been his 22nd birthday.
"He was in service not being a citizen, and then suddenly he became a citizen by being killed," she said. "But still, [citizenship] was a great thing. He got something that he dreamt all the time: to be a citizen."
A dark premonition
Living in Police, Poland, Dawid Pietrek also dreamed of becoming an American citizen when he set out on a grand adventure after winning the U.S. government's green card lottery in 2005.
"He considered this as his life's luckiest moment, the beginning of something new and amazing," said the young Marine's uncle, Marcin Huniewicz, who came from his home in Iceland to attend Tuesday's funeral.
When Pietrek enlisted last year, his mother, a human resources coordinator at a fire station in northwest Poland, supported her son, even if she was worried.
But on June 14, Dorota Pietrek felt a dark premonition and began watching the news for any information about attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, she said recently, speaking through an interpreter. She learned that four Marines had been killed by a roadside bomb.
Several hours later, two Marines from the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw showed up at her door. Her son had warned her what this would mean.
When immigrants die in the U.S. armed forces, their immediate family members are given preference if they wish to immigrate. For now, Dorota Pietrek will return to Poland, but she might wish to move here someday, she said, to be closer to her son's grave.
"I have a bumper sticker on my car that says, 'I am the proud mother of a U.S. Marine.' "
rworking@tribune.com
Ellie