As we pray for the people of Ukraine running for their lives from Russia’s invasion, my relatives have been reminiscing about my grandparents and their escape from the Russians in 1944. Their mission was to provide a better life, full of freedom for their family.
Jekab and Ilze Pukulis, (along with my mother who was only 3 years old,) risked their lives, endured fear as they left Latvia with their siblings and a few others, on a fishing boat, during the night, hoping and praying they would make it to the shore of Sweden without the Russians catching them.
They made it, and eventually moved on to Canada and then AMERICA where my grandfather was a commercial scalloper and my grandmother worked in a factory cutting fish. They had five children, eleven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren who will forever remember “Gramma and Grampa” for their courage, their selflessness, and their pure love.
Several years ago my mother, Biruta Pukulis Silva and her siblings: Dzintra Ferrigan, Modris Pukulis, Silvija Mazza and Vija Ilze Pukulis Carney, found entries of a diary/journal that my Great-Aunt Ilze Kesteris kept as they crossed the Baltic Sea. They transcribed her handwritten Latvian notes into English and shared them with the rest of the family. While reading the entries, you can almost feel the terror they experienced that night.
I am sharing my great-aunt’s journal as it resembles the fear Ukranians are going through at this time. We still have family members in Latvia and life is good for them, for now, as the country is currently independent. However, we cannot forget what Russia has done and continues to do. Pray for Ukraine!
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