Jack Argis tells the story of his own immigration to the United States, his service in the U.S. military and how he arranged to bring his family over from Greece. (Excerpts from an oral interview conducted in February 2001)

I came over from Greece in 1951. I was nineteen years old. My uncle from Florida invited me to come to the country and I came to this country and stayed with him 6 or 7 months and worked in his restaurant. Then I worked in a shoe factory in Baltimore for a couple of years. Then I was drafted in the service. I wasn't a U.S. citizen but it was on the news and on the radio that if you were a legal resident you had to register. The Korea War was on. I got a letter from President Truman to serve and I served. I was trained at Fort Bragg North Carolina for a light engineer company - we set up bridges for the troops. After my basic training they shipped us overseas and I was sent to Germany. When I went to Germany I became an American citizen. I became an American citizen in Frankfurt Germany. When I was in Germany I took 30 days off and I went to Greece and visited my mother, my father, and my sister who were living in Piraeas. While I was in Greece I took my family and I went to see the American ambassador. He was very nice to me and we talked a lot. Then he did all of the paper work for my family and I told him I would be home in the U.S. again in about 2 years. After my 30 days was up I went back into the service and served my years. Then, a week or two after I was discharged from the army my family came to the U.S. from Greece. I brought all three of them over.

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