timelines of history

8/17/2019 Timelines of History

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My name is Algis Ratnikas and I was born in a refugee camp in Munich, Germany,

in 1947 to Lithuanian parents. Our family emigrated to the United States in 1950.

I remember waking up to the sound of an engine and looking out an airplane

window. Below me I distinctly remember seeing the statue of a large woman. I

had just turned 3 years old. My father had a arranged for a job picking tobacco inNorth Carolina. The job did not wait, but he was quickly able to contact a school

friend, already settled in Detroit, to act as a sponsor. I grew up on the West side

of Detroit and attended McCarrow public grade school through the 3rd grade

and then transferred to St. Cecilia's through the 6th grade, where I also took

piano lessons for 3 years.


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We moved to Dearborn in 1959, where my father

had advanced to work as a draftsman for the Ford

Motor Company. In Dearborn my mother enrolled

her 4 school-age children at Sacred Heart School,

which was taught by the same IHM Sisters as we

had at St .Cecilia. I soon began playing the

accordion because our old piano had been left

behind on Tuxedo St. In Dearborn we lived only a

mile or so from the Greenfield Village Museum.

One summer I happened upon the deserted Ford

Fairlane mansion, while hiking in the woods along

the Rouge River.

I graduated from Sacred Heart High in 1965 and

was accepted to the Univ. of Michigan with a small

state scholarship. There I pursued a 4 year pre-med

program and concentrated in cell biology. I wasvery interested in immunology and had spent 2

summers working for Dr. Poulik, a family friend, at

the Children's Medical Center on Detroit's near

East Side in the electrophoresis laboratory.


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At the end of 4 years in Ann Arbor (1969) I received my graduation certificate and draft

notice in the mail on the same day. I chose to enlist and selected service as a laboratory

technician. I was very much opposed to the war in Vietnam, but figured that my time would

be better spent working within the system rather than outside it as a fugitive.

Boot camp was at Fort Knox, Ky., and in the 6th week I contracted spinal meningitis. I wasfortunate enough to recover and was sent home for a few months recuperation before

returning to start boot camp all over. I then went to San Antonio, Texas, for advanced

training as a laboratory technician. Most of my class went on to Vietnam, but I was held

back for special orders for paratrooper jump school, which was part of my initial delayed

enlistment signup deal. Since this was a volunteer assignment, I respectfully changed my

mind and was placed on another hold for new orders. This time I was assigned to FortCarson, Colorado. After one year in Colorado I was transferred to the 2nd General Hospital

in Landstuhl, Germany.

In Germany I had a little opportunity to travel and spent a few weeks in Paris, Brussels,

Amsterdam and London. I bought an old VW bus and drove to wine and beer festivals just

about every weekend. In 1972 I received an early out and returned home and soon Ienrolled at Wayne State Univ. for a Master's in the Humanities Dept. My interests in the

sciences had severely waned and my lifelong love of reading and music, coupled with new

interests in art and history made this a natural choice. Read more www.timelines.ws
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