Andrew Demus, born in Lubar, a town on the steppes of Ukraine, became a patriotic citizen of our country. As Kathleen, his wife, and I stood by his bed where Andrew was dying from cancer, she said, “Andy is tough!” He was indeed! In fact, he looked tough, as he had a strong, stocky body. He lived through tough times and yet was a kind hearted, loving person and a dear friend.
When I met Andrew in front of his house in Cornelia, Georgia, American and Ukraine flags were flying in front of his house. Andrew became a United States citizen on Monday, May 2, 1966. Earlier, in May 1962, while living in Florida, he married Kathleen English. They reared five children, three daughters and two sons, and had nine grandchildren.
After moving to Cornelia, Georgia, Andy became an active supporter of the community and promoted good citizenship. He often spoke to groups of students and churches. When I mentioned many Americans didn’t know or appreciate our unique heritage as a free republic, he said of students, “The don’t know what life is under dictators. I didn’t understand why Germans, so intelligent and industrious, fell for Hitler.
When Nazi troops arrived in Ukraine the Jews were rounded up, then forced to dig their own graves, and were murdered. The German troops took food and anything they wanted from the people. Citizens had already suffered starvation and death caused by Stalin’s Communist forces. Andrew’s dad, a mayor, was shot by the Communists for feeding Jews. His mother was killed by a German stealing her chickens. Andrew as a teenager with many other youths were shipped by train to do slave labor in Germany. He survived ill treatment and bombings by American planes and after the war an American sergeant befriended him. After several years in England, Andrew came to New York in 1960. He moved from New York to Florida and repaired seawalls and did carpentry.
Andrew and family later moved to Cornelia. As a master of Ukrainian woodworking crafts, he fashioned items from various woods pieced together. He gave me a fine model of a bi-wing aircraft. He also spoke to students and church groups about being free and what America’s freedom meant to him. In one speech I heard him say, “Wherever there is a dictator there is holocaust!” In a letter to Laura Bush, he wrote, “America taught me how to live free! I will always stand under that waving flag of freedom and that is what I give to the children of Georgia, love for that flag of freedom as I lecture on the Holocaust.”
I write this article in memory of Demus, a survivor of Stalin and Hitler, who after a long ordeal, with the help of American servicemen, found the freedom and opportunity he craved in the United States. Andrew Demus shared that love and passion until the day he left to enjoy the greater freedom of Heaven. Yet, today we must be alert and work together to keep our country free for our children.
