Book Description
This is not just Vick Pakis' personal biography, but a compelling glimpse into the generations of a family that endured and confronted oppression. It is an honest look into the linage and history of an immigrant soldier filled with compassion for anyone dealing with the atrocities committed by oppressive government powers. From the Bolshevik revolution to the onslaught of Communism and Nazism in the Baltic state of Latvia, Immigrant Soldier reveals the region's heritage and the strangulation of basic rights. Pakis' family, like so many others, realized their fortunes and freedom would have to be found elsewhere. Although he was young when his family fled Latvia, Vick Pakis would inevitably carry on his family's traditions and values in the U.S. Immigrant Soldier reveals how this personal history would ultimately influence his own confrontation with Communism as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Although worlds apart from Latvia, Pakis would serve two tours in Vietnam, participating in the Tet offensive, helping to battle an oppression similar to which his own family fled in eastern Europe. Immigrant Soldier is a personal and important story about the generations that have paid the price for freedom.