John M. Shalikashvili
John Shalikashvili was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 27 June 1936. His parents, Dimitri and Maria were Russian followers of Nicholas II, the tsar. Both of his parents fled to Poland after the Russian Revolution of 1917. They met in Warsaw and had three children, Othar, John and Gale.
John's father fought with the Nazi's during World War II. He was originally part of the Georgian Brigade, a group of expatriots fighting to free the country of [Georgia] from the communists. But the unit was later transferred to the SS and positioned in Normandy. Dimitri was eventually captured by the British and held in a prisoner of war camp until after the war. A collection of Dimitri Shalikashvili's writings are on deposit at the Hoover Institution.
Meanwhile, John, his mother and two siblings lived through the destruction of Warsaw. As the Russian Army approached Warsaw in 1943, the family fled to Pappenheim, Germany where they were eventually reunited with Dimitri, and stayed with relatives for eight years.
In 1952, when John was 16, the family immigrated to Peoria, Illinois. They were sponsored by Winifred Luthy, the wife of a local banker. She was previously married to Dimitri's cousin. The Luthy's and the Episcopal Church helped the Shalikashvili family get started, finding jobs and a home for them. Dimitri worked for Central Illinois Light Company., and Maria was a file clerk at Commercial National Bank.
When John arrived in Peoria he spoke little English. He has recalled it this way:
I spoke a little bit [of English]. But not much beyond yes and no and what time is it. And the stories that subsequently have been told that I learned English by watching John Wayne movies is only a little bit of a stretch. . . .As school was over [at Peoria High School], I would run to the local movie theater. There I would sit through movies in order to learn English. In those days movies didn't start at a specific time and end at a specific time, but they would roll continuously. . . The first time through it wouldn't make much sense to me. But the second time through, it would begin to make a little more sense. Now in my memory, that is probably very faulty, a lot of those movies were John Wayne movies or at least were Wild West movies.
He graduated from Peoria High School, where he was a long distance runner. He attended the local university, Bradley University, and earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in June 1958.
In May 1958, he and his family were sworn in as American citizens. It was the first citizenship he ever held. He had previously been a refugee who had only been classified as "stateless", since he had been born to parents who had been refugees.
He had plans to work for Hyster Lift Truck, but received a draft notice in July 1958. He entered the Army as a private, but enjoyed it and applied to Officer's Candidate School.
He received his commision as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1959, after graduating from Officer's Candidate School. He retired from the Army in September 1997, after serving for 38 years. He rose through the ranks to become the highest ranking member of the US armed forces, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was appointed to that position by President Bill Clinton effective on October 25, 1993.
He is now a visiting professor at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He is married and has one son, Brent.
Referenced By
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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