Josip Devcich

In September 1956, my mother and father and three of us children escaped from Przunac, Croatia (which was then part of the communist Yugoslavian government) in my father's boat. My father took eleven individuals in the boat with our family and we traveled across the Adriatic to Ancona, Italy. Part way across the Adriatic, the engine died and there was great panic as to whether or not they would get it started again. But as fate would have it, they managed to start it up again, and we made it safely to the Italian border in Ancona.

We spent the next one and a half years at a camp in Gaeta, Italy, until our departure for Canada on the Vulcania. There were many challenges during that year and a half, including serious illness. But the greater challenges began as my mother and father embarked on the journey across the country with their three children and literally just the clothes on our backs. As they had to leave everything behind in their homeland.

With the additional struggles of a language barrier, we made our way by train across the country to the small prairie town of Picture Butte, Alberta, where we were met by my mother's aunt and uncle. Our parents have vividly recalled that feeling of loss and despair which they felt as they stood amidst the snow and cold of this prairie town. They were overcome by longing feelings for their family and the life they left behind in their homeland on the Adriatic coast. But they persevered and worked extremely hard for many years. They eventually established themselves successfully in Calgary, providing a wonderful life for their four children, MaryAnn, Anne, Nevenka and Sandy who was later born in Lethbridge. Following many trials and tribulations, Canada became the new welcoming home for our family.

The Devcich Family