Waters 1 Emily Waters Stephen Federico & Anne Vallerga American Studies 31 March 2014 The Unimaginable Dream

It was time for me to move on and start a new chapter in my life. I decided to get out of England and I was very poor at the time. It all began when I was born on February 6, 1938 in Leicester, England where I lived with my mother, my older brother Norman, and my father Arthur. As a young boy, we had to move to the slums of London so my parents could find work. Due to difficulties in finding work, we did not have any money for food and proper shelter. From day to day, I was scared and hungry and did not want to live my life feeling this way. I wanted a better life for myself but I didnt know how to achieve that as of yet. During this time, I endured bombings in close proximity to where I was living. This was the time of World War II and I didnt understand why the city of London was being bombed. After High School, I was required to go into the British Army for two years. I was docked in Berlin, Germany in 1961 and at that time, the Berlin Wall was built between East and West of Germany. I experienced lifethreatening conflicts during my time in Berlin, but also had some fun times and met some interesting people. After my time in the army, a friend of mine (Jack) mentioned he was planning to go to the U.S. to work at his Uncles business. He suggested that I go with him, of course I said yes. I knew it was virtually impossible to get there unless you had a job or a sponsor. This was an opportunity where I would have both. With a little money that I had saved over the years, I decided I would join him and felt this was my ticket to a better life from what I was living. Jack

Waters 2 contacted his Uncle and he was very glad to sponsor the both of us, so Jack and I went down to the American Embassy to apply for a U.S. Visa. After several visits and a great deal of paperwork it looked like everything was going according to plan. I was as excited about this as I had been for a long time. It looked like a chance of a lifetime and to finally to get out of the slums of London. On one of our last visits to the Embassy, one of the officials told us upon arrival in the U.S. that Jack and I would have to register with The Selective Service System (SOM - State of Michigan.), which meant that we would be eligible for conscription in the American Army. The notion that he would have to go into the army again completely turned Jack off, as both he and I had already been in, and finished, two years in the army. His response was that if he thought there was a slight chance he would have to spend another two years in the American Army, then he was not going! This of course ruined my chances of going as well. By this time I was so excited about going to the United States and I couldnt think of anything else. Then someone told me it was very easy to get a visa by going through Canada if you were a British subject, and once you were there you would find it much easier to get into the United States. After hearing this and finding out Canada had no conscription, Jack said he would go with me if I went to Canada. We both went down to the Canadian Embassy and applied for visas. The paperwork and the requirements were only a fraction of what the U.S. wanted and within three months we had our visas issued for Canada. It was 1963; Jack and I arrived in Canada, I took an awful job to pay my rent. I was miserable and knew that if I wanted to make a better life for myself I had to take some college classes. I excelled in math as a young boy, so I decided to take some bookkeeping classes and eventually got a job as a bookkeeper for a railroad company. During this time, I was offered a job to deliver a Cadillac from Detroit, Michigan to San Francisco. I was told that it would be

Waters 3 much easier to immigrate to the U.S. if you had education and wealth so I figured this was my time now since I had a little of both. It was 1964, I took the job and was on my way to the U.S. I needed to cross the border from Canada to the U.S. which took a little while since I had to be questioned and show proof of my education and wealth. I finally made it to Detroit, Michigan and picked up the striking Cadillac. I drove Route 66 and I had the beautiful view of every state going along the U.S. such as; Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. This was one of the best times of my life. It only took me four days to travel through and I decided to stop in Los Angeles before delivering the Cadillac in San Francisco. I finally arrived in Los Angeles in January 1964 when I was at the age of twenty-six! I had never felt more happy and content. While staying in Los Angeles for a short period of time, I tried to look for jobs in the newspaper. I applied to companies where I could use my bookkeeping skills and got hired as a bookkeeper from a British insurance company called (Royal Globe Insurance). I quickly returned the Cadillac to the owners in San Francisco then returned to L.A. to start my new job. After my arrival, I found an apartment in Hollywood, which was a palace, compared to the places I lived in England. The apartment had a swimming pool, which was a luxury to me. I could not believe the wonderful sunny weather in L.A. and the beautiful beaches and Palm Trees that I had never seen before. I felt like I was in Heaven, because I came from Canada and England, where there is cold and dreary weather. Being in California, I felt as if there was no de facto segregation with the Americans. Although, I did observe other races that were segregated into different groups. I felt comfortable around other Americans because we spoke the same language and had similar interests. Everything in California was much different and exciting. It was the 1960s, and a huge upcoming band in the United States was an English group called The Beatles (The Pop History

Waters 4 Dig Beatles in America"1963-1964.) that came over to the U.S. in 1964 and everyone in the U.S. loved them, especially with their hit song Please, Please Me and From Me To You. Everyone knew about them and people were always asking me if I personally knew them, because I was from England! Everyone in L.A. represented Peace, Love and Freedom, which I thought was really cool, and I felt this way also. The one big difference that I noticed was people drove everywhere in California, where as in England, you would walk everywhere. I was conflicted because I missed my home country in England and my family, but was enjoying my newfound freedom and new life in California. At this time, on June 29th 1964, the Civil Rights act passed. The Civil Rights act passed prohibiting discrimination against people with a different race or ethnic background, sex and religion. The congress supported these rights for people and the court said mandated for races to be separate but equal. (The Civil Rights Act of 1964) While living in the U.S. for a few months, life was very good. I was really excited to be a part of this historical time since I always felt that everyone should be treated as equals. In adjusting to my new life, I had one eventful evening out on the town during which I met a beautiful young lady. We fell in love and decide to get married. I was a young man with a wife and had the responsibility to provide for the both of us. At that time, I decided to start my own business to achieve the financial freedom for myself and my wife. I figured that I had traveled all this way to the land of the plentiful, and I was not going to give my future family the same life I had in England. My next conquest was to obtain my American Citizenship. The process it took for me to pass the exam was to know all about U.S. history. After passing the exam in 1975, I was proud to call myself an American Citizen.

Waters 5 I was a boy that came from the Slums of London and experienced many hard times, while always wishing for a better life. At the time, I never thought that I would have the opportunity to leave England to immigrate to the USA and to achieve personal and financial success while living an unimaginable dream to become a Citizen of the United States of America. I actually achieved the American Dream!

Waters 6 Works Cited The 1960s. (2013): 1 Pages. 28, August 2013 <www.history.com>. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (2006): 1 Pages. 29, August 2013 <www.judiciary.senate.gov>. "SOM - State of Michigan." (2013): 1 Pages. 02 Sept. 2013. <http://www.michigan.gov/ >. "The Pop History Dig "Beatles in America"1963-1964." (2013): 1 Pages. 02 Sept. 2013. <http://www.pophistorydig.com/>.