Today's Refugees Recall America's Past
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
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Ethnic Albanian
refugees from Kosovo disembark from a
trans-Atlantic charter flight at McGuire Air Force
Base, N.J. More than 4,000 refugees reached safe
haven at nearby Fort Dix in May. U.S. Army Photo
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ORT DIX, N.J. --
For those meeting planes and buses bearing Kosovo's ethnic
Albanians, welcoming war-weary refugees to the United States
was like stepping into America's past.
"We want to welcome these people to America the way we
might wish our grandparents and great-grandparents had been
welcomed to Ellis Island," U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mitchell M. Zais
said he had told troops assigned to Operation Provide
Refuge.
This is something that's happened in America from the
Irish potato famine to the Jews driven from Europe before
World War II to the Italians who came in great numbers, the
commander said. "For many Americans," he said, "this
resonated as something that was personally related to their
family experience."
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An unidentified service member
helps an elderly ethnic Albanian woman disembark
from a trans-Atlantic charter flight at New
Jersey's McGuire Air Force Base. Nine charters
carrying up to 500 Kosovar refugees each landed at
McGuire in May.
Courtesy Phil McAuliffe,
Packet Publications
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The general, head of Joint Task Force Provide
Refuge, said he recalled his own family history as the first
planeload of about 450 refugees came down the ramp May 5 at
McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. "The babushka-covered ladies
looked as I imagined my grandmother looked when she came
across the gangplank at Ellis Island -- an illiterate
peasant refugee from Central Europe, driven out of Kiev by
the pogroms," he said.
Watching 463 Albanian refugees arriving May 29 at the
Doughboy Gym reception center, Naval Reserve Capt. Joseph
Eiting said he also recalled his grandmother's journey to a
new life. She was 16 when she and her 14-year-old sister
arrived in New York from Czechoslovakia in about 1909, he
said. "She was much like a lot of these people, I suspect.
She couldn't speak a word of English -- except she didn't
have anywhere to go."
Fort Dix was the place to go for the more than 4,000
Kosovar refugees who arrived here in May. Landing at McGuire
after a 13-hour trans-Atlantic charter flight, they boarded
buses for a quick ride to this quiet, tree-lined Army
Reserve post. A former basic training center, Fort Dix
offered a temporary safe haven, and a host of service
members, civilians and volunteers worked to make the
refugees comfortable.
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An unidentified
XVIII Airborne Corps soldier from Fort Bragg, N.C.,
shakes hands with an elderly ethnic Albanian woman
upon her arrival at Fort Dix, N.J.
Courtesy Phil McAuliffe,
Packet Publications
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s Albanian women carrying sleeping toddlers
emerged from buses, soldiers from the XVIII Airborne Corps
and Red Cross volunteers took over the load. Greeting their
new American hosts, elderly Albanian men solemnly put their
hands over their hearts reflecting their thanks. Kosovar women
of all ages timidly smiled when Red Cross volunteer Kaye
Ordiway from Chambersburg, Pa., swept each into her arms and
said, "Welcome to America."
A total of nine flights arrived during the month.
Formally welcoming the refugees at the gym, Zais told the
Kosovars, "America is a land of immigrants and refugees. All
of us came from somewhere else."
Learning Fort Dix would house the refugees, Zais said he
set out to ensure the Kosovars would get the best in
American hospitality. These people are not the illegal
migrants seen in Guantanamo, Panama and Suriname, the
commander said. "Those were all people trying to enter the
United States illegally, ahead of others who had complied
with the law and who had waited their turn to emigrate into
the United States."
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XVIII Airborne Corps soldiers
from Fort Bragg, N.C., welcome ethnic Albanians
arriving at the Fort Dix, N.J., reception center
DoD Photo
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The Kosovars, on the other hand, are legal refugees,
here at the invitation of the government, he said.
"Consequently, I told the soldiers those images of chain
link fence, barbed wire, tents, dust and mud, that you have to
put those out of your mind. That's not the image for this
camp. This camp will be like a college campus with
dormitories, dining facilities, and recreational
facilities."
Zais gathered a team of about 80 soldiers from the U.S.
Army Reserve Command in Atlanta and about 200 soldiers from
the airborne corps and other units from Fort Bragg, N.C. The
New Jersey National Guard assumed the lead in partnership
with the American Red Cross in coordinating charitable
donations from private individuals, U.S. corporations,
church groups and other organizations.
With the help of Fort Dix officials, the military went to
work to support the refugee camp named "The Village." The
military also supported the relief effort's interagency task
force, headed by the Health and Human Services Department
and including federal agencies, nongovernment resettlement
organizations and volunteer groups.
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An elderly ethnic
Albanian woman carries a box lunch, bottle of water
and a plastic bag of personal belongings during
processing at Fort Dix, N.J.
U.S. Army
Photo
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he military is not in charge of this operation,"
Zais said. "We provide facilities to the refugees and to the
agencies operating here. That team came together very
quickly and has worked very effectively together."
Shortly after the first Albanians arrived, Zais said, a
foreign reporter asked if it was appropriate to bring these
refugees to a military installation after they had been
traumatized by Serb soldiers in Kosovo. The general replied
that only the Yugoslav army uniform would strike terror in
their hearts.
"It's been my experience in Vietnam, in Korea, in the
Middle East, and everywhere else I've traveled through
Central and South America, that the American soldier is
loved around the world for his compassion and generosity,"
he said. "The only people who fear American soldiers are
those who have a good reason to."
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Ethnic Albanians from Kosovo
awaiting processing eat box lunches in the
bleachers at that Doughboy Gym reception center at
Fort Dix, N.J.
Spc. Scott M. Rudder,
NJARNG
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More soldiers have volunteered for the mission than Zais
has jobs for, he noted. Soldiers assigned to the task force
have enjoyed helping the refugees. "They have loved it," he
said. "They see the gratitude in the eyes of the refugees
and the faces of the children. They have received
recognition from everyone who comes to visit. It's been
heartwarming."
A number of teenage Albanians have told Zais they want
to join the American Army. "I suspect a large number of
these Kosovar teen-agers and young children who are now
refugees, but who one day will be immigrants, will join the
military because their first experience with the kindness
and generosity of the American people has been at the hands
of these soldiers," he said.
Walking through The Village, it's apparent the Kosovar
children aren't afraid of America's troops. Soldiers read to
them; they play soccer and volleyball. Children of all ages
greet the soldiers with a 'high-five.' Hajrullah Berisha,
the ethnic Albanian elected to be mayor of The Village, said
it's remarkable how the soldiers can play so long with the
children. "It's the first time Albanian children play with
soldiers," he said.
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A young ethnic
Albanian boy from Kosovo clutches a stuffed rabbit
upon arrival at Fort Dix, N.J.
U.S. Army
Photo
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Rudi Rubik, a 23-year-old refugee who serves as a
translator for his people, said the refugees at Fort Dix
have lost their "phobia" toward soldiers. "At first they
were very afraid," he said. "Day by day, they became more
comfortable. This is the first time we see soldiers and we
can speak to them without fear.
After nearly three weeks at the Army camp, Rubik said he
has come to love the soldiers and the American workers who
teach English and cultural orientation classes. "The
soldiers have treated us with great kindness," Rubik said.
"They want to speak to us, to share their culture. I would
like to be just like them. We need to learn from you
[Americans] and rebuild Kosovo based on your ideals."
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