Ingrid
I came to the United States on June 7, 1962, just before my 22nd birthday.
I grew up living with my mother and three siblings. My dad was missing in action in World War II, leaving my mother with four kids. The youngest was one year old at the time. Because I was growing up after World War II, everything was rationed, but the food wasn’t much different than it was here. My favorite thing about living there was that I could walk wherever I wanted to. Their transportation system is great. You can take the train or the bus and get wherever you want to go.
I met my husband in the town I grew up in. The town is about the size of Moorhead, but everything is more condensed. He understood quite a bit of German, so that's how we were able to communicate. He was in the service and went to Germany in 1958, and his tour was supposed to be done in 1960. He was supposed to rotate back to the States, and that's why we got married. My mother had to sign for us. It wasn't that difficult for me to come to the States because my husband did all the paperwork allowing me to move.
I wouldn't have ever come by myself, but I was young, I was in love, and I didn't care that it meant moving across the ocean from my home. I didn't care if I saw Germany again or not. We flew in a four-engine aircraft, and the flight took 24 hours. Two years later, we went back to Germany, and we were there in six hours. I thought to myself, "Wow, that's crazy."
I grew up on a military base, so life didn't seem to change that much. The hardest thing to get used to was the language. I didn’t know any English before I came here. It was not mandatory in school, and I didn't take it. Now I wish I had, but I did take a lot of English classes when I got here.
We came to the States in 1962 and visited my husband’s folks here in Minnesota for about 30 days before we had to report to Fort Hood, Texas. We weren't there for more than two weeks when we had to go to Little Creek, Virginia for my husband’s amphibious training. Here I was with a baby, and I didn't know English. That was tough. People could have more patience with some of the immigrants who come over here.
He got orders for Germany, again, and we stayed there for two years from 1966 to 1968. We moved back to the States during the Vietnam War because he had to be a drill sergeant at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, so we lived there for two years.
We got orders for Germany another time. That time, it was only about an hour from home, so that was nice. After three years there, we stayed at Fort Hood again for 10 months. We went to Germany for a third time, for three years, and then he finally retired from Fort Knox, Kentucky. That’s when we settled in Moorhead, in 1978.
It wasn't hard moving around a lot when I knew we got to go back to Germany. It was good for my kids. Two of them speak German fluently because my mom didn't speak English, so they were forced to speak German with her. I could drop them off today in Germany, and they would get by. My youngest daughter understands it, but she doesn't want to try to speak it because she's afraid she'll say something wrong.
I was in the States for not quite two years when I became a citizen. They made a special exception so that I could become a citizen rather than just getting my green card. My husband came home with stacks and stacks of papers. I studied the Constitution and the United States government. I took the test and passed it.
It was a very hard test. They told me that I needed to study certain things, and I studied them, but when I got there they asked me different questions, some that didn't have anything to do with the United States. In addition, I had to prove that my English was good enough. I also had a friend who was very, very ambitious. She was from Germany, too. She came up to me one day and said, "Let's challenge that high school test." We did a lot of studying, took it, and we both passed, so I got my GED.
Over the years, I got to bring many things here because the military shipped everything for us. I got my grandfather's car that he bought when my mother was a young child, and I still have it - it reminds me of Germany. Other than celebrating Christmas Eve as we did in Germany, I didn't keep many cultural practices.
Living away from my family didn’t affect me until I got older. My mother was over there, and she wasn't feeling well. Then I wish I would have been over there. When my husband retired, he asked where I wanted to retire, and I could have said Germany, but it wouldn't have been fair to my kids.
I have relatives over there, who I miss. I used to go home about every other year, but now with the pandemic, I haven't. I don't know if I dare go now, at my age, or if I want to travel by myself. I usually go alone. The United States is my home now. I will always root for the United States. My husband and I have three kids and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I grew up living with my mother and three siblings. My dad was missing in action in World War II, leaving my mother with four kids. The youngest was one year old at the time. Because I was growing up after World War II, everything was rationed, but the food wasn’t much different than it was here. My favorite thing about living there was that I could walk wherever I wanted to. Their transportation system is great. You can take the train or the bus and get wherever you want to go.
I met my husband in the town I grew up in. The town is about the size of Moorhead, but everything is more condensed. He understood quite a bit of German, so that's how we were able to communicate. He was in the service and went to Germany in 1958, and his tour was supposed to be done in 1960. He was supposed to rotate back to the States, and that's why we got married. My mother had to sign for us. It wasn't that difficult for me to come to the States because my husband did all the paperwork allowing me to move.
I wouldn't have ever come by myself, but I was young, I was in love, and I didn't care that it meant moving across the ocean from my home. I didn't care if I saw Germany again or not. We flew in a four-engine aircraft, and the flight took 24 hours. Two years later, we went back to Germany, and we were there in six hours. I thought to myself, "Wow, that's crazy."
I grew up on a military base, so life didn't seem to change that much. The hardest thing to get used to was the language. I didn’t know any English before I came here. It was not mandatory in school, and I didn't take it. Now I wish I had, but I did take a lot of English classes when I got here.
We came to the States in 1962 and visited my husband’s folks here in Minnesota for about 30 days before we had to report to Fort Hood, Texas. We weren't there for more than two weeks when we had to go to Little Creek, Virginia for my husband’s amphibious training. Here I was with a baby, and I didn't know English. That was tough. People could have more patience with some of the immigrants who come over here.
He got orders for Germany, again, and we stayed there for two years from 1966 to 1968. We moved back to the States during the Vietnam War because he had to be a drill sergeant at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, so we lived there for two years.
We got orders for Germany another time. That time, it was only about an hour from home, so that was nice. After three years there, we stayed at Fort Hood again for 10 months. We went to Germany for a third time, for three years, and then he finally retired from Fort Knox, Kentucky. That’s when we settled in Moorhead, in 1978.
It wasn't hard moving around a lot when I knew we got to go back to Germany. It was good for my kids. Two of them speak German fluently because my mom didn't speak English, so they were forced to speak German with her. I could drop them off today in Germany, and they would get by. My youngest daughter understands it, but she doesn't want to try to speak it because she's afraid she'll say something wrong.
I was in the States for not quite two years when I became a citizen. They made a special exception so that I could become a citizen rather than just getting my green card. My husband came home with stacks and stacks of papers. I studied the Constitution and the United States government. I took the test and passed it.
It was a very hard test. They told me that I needed to study certain things, and I studied them, but when I got there they asked me different questions, some that didn't have anything to do with the United States. In addition, I had to prove that my English was good enough. I also had a friend who was very, very ambitious. She was from Germany, too. She came up to me one day and said, "Let's challenge that high school test." We did a lot of studying, took it, and we both passed, so I got my GED.
Over the years, I got to bring many things here because the military shipped everything for us. I got my grandfather's car that he bought when my mother was a young child, and I still have it - it reminds me of Germany. Other than celebrating Christmas Eve as we did in Germany, I didn't keep many cultural practices.
Living away from my family didn’t affect me until I got older. My mother was over there, and she wasn't feeling well. Then I wish I would have been over there. When my husband retired, he asked where I wanted to retire, and I could have said Germany, but it wouldn't have been fair to my kids.
I have relatives over there, who I miss. I used to go home about every other year, but now with the pandemic, I haven't. I don't know if I dare go now, at my age, or if I want to travel by myself. I usually go alone. The United States is my home now. I will always root for the United States. My husband and I have three kids and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.