Even Andy’s parents did not know he was leaving. But Andy’s drive and determination pulled him to leave Poland at age 18 to begin a new life in America. His first stop after fleeing communist Poland was a refugee camp in Vienna, Austria where he spent three months before he was granted passage to the US, landing in New Britain, CT.

Although he did not speak English, he did have a trade. He had begun learning and working as a machinist at 16 and that skill enabled him to find his first job in the U.S.