My father belonged to The American Legion in Juneau, Alaska. His dedication to the USA was profound. He wrote a series of books about his experiences.

ISBN: 9798326041012: "Volume 1 of 3, A Long, Long Watch: Boyhood in Russian and Emigration: 1906 to 1925" is an autobiographical story of a boy born in Russia in 1906 who dreamed of going to sea. But by 1914, the start of World War I, his life started a downward spiral with food and fuel shortages and the devaluation of the ruble; soldiers and the KGB searched, looted, arrested and murdered indiscriminately. In 1917, the Russian Revolution raised its ugly head, leading to the Bolsheviks becoming the Communist Party and to even more dire circumstances. In August 1920, his family escaped to Latvia and on to Czechoslovakia, where he graduated. He attended navigation school in France in 1925.

ISBN: 9798326041418: "Volume 2 of 3, A Long, Long Watch; The Sea: 1925 to 1946" is an autobiographical story of a sailor’s life. On Aug. 21, 1940, citizenship papers in hand, Gitkov wrote and passed the Merchant Marine examination for a second mate’s license. He joined the Free French Navy Forces in Great Britain with the caveat that when the United States joined World War II officially, he would resign and join U.S. forces, which he did. He sailed on an Army seagoing tug and then on troop transport vessels. until he transferred his ship to SCAJAP.

ISBN 9798326041821: "Volume 3 of 3, A Long, Long Watch; Life in Alaska: 1946 to 1963" With World War II over, Capt. Gitkov moved to Alaska in 1947 and plied the Kuskokwim River and Bering Sea on various vessels, towing or pushing freight barges and scows during the summer; from 1952 to 1963 he skippered and operated two ferries.

I am a veteran, also.
Margaret Gitkov Myers, USN, USAR, AFRC/Ret.