Leonas Lučauskas: he was buried with a small packet of dirt from his homeland

Leonas Lučauskas lived in the small village of Jacentavas near Igliauka. His mother Stanislava was killed by communist agitators when Leonas was 5. His father Juozas was killed by communists during the communist purge right before World War Two. The communists tried to kill Leonas on the same night but failed. Leonas joined a Lithuanian unit that fought against the Russians. He was shot five times during the war but was able to recover and fight on. Near the end of the war, Leonas was in a displaced persons camp at Nuremberg, German. He joined the Lithuanian unit of the Nuremberg-Furth Baltic Units. His unit guarded the Germans on trial for war crimes.

Leonas’ house and farm in Lithuania were seized by the communists. His mother-in-law was exiled to Siberia. He thought he would be killed if he returned to Lithuania under Russian Soviet control. To get out of the displaced persons camp, Leonas agreed to work for a Canadian textile company. He also worked as a lumberjack in Canada. In 1950, Leonas emigrated to the United States where he re-married and raised two children. Leonas died in 1987, never to see Lithuania a free country. He was buried with a small packet of dirt from his homeland.