The Long Journey

'Long Journey" gives the account of the Beelik family's escape from their native Hungary at the end of WWII and their life as refugees in Austria for 4 years ending in their arrival to the promised land of USA.

THANK YOU AMERICA! Thank you America, for opening your door to me. Sixty or so years ago on, our ship anchored in New York harbor and for the first time I had the privilege to see the land of the free . Thank you America for giving me the opportunity to start a new life, to become a citizen and allowing me to vote. Thank you America for helping me to earn an education and get a job which helped me to build a new life. The following story is not necessarily unique. Many thousands of individuals or families fled their homelands to escape the menace of communism which was threatening Europe, at the end of World War II. I hope this story will help you to understand the plight and the difficult decisions these refugees had to make to, in many instances, to save their lives. Those of us that were fortunate, made it to a new home to start a new life.

Victor Beelik was born in Hungary. He escaped the communists at the closing days of WWII. At the age of 18 he and his parents emigrated to the US in 1949. Vic Beelik spent 4 year in the US Air Force during the Korean war after which he enrolled in college and graduated with a BS in Physics from UCLA in 1959. He married his loving wife the same year and worked for Lockheed Aircraft Co. for two years and for Hughes Aircraft Co. in Los Angeles for 24 years. After 24 years at Hughes, he retired and worked for himself as a consultant until 1992 when their daughter graduated from college.