I am the second generation of my family born in the United States.

Sometime in 1929 or 1930 my grandfather emigrated from Denmark. He had worked as an apprentice on a farm since he was 11 years old. He sought adventure and opportunity in America. As the story is told, according to the law at the time, only single men would be allowed to emigrate. So he prepared his paperwork as a single man, filed it, then immediately married my grandmother. Before the marriage was recorded, he boarded a ship bound for New York City.

At immigration, he was told that "Willy" was a nickname and that his name was William. He fought over the spelling of the name "Laursen" and won. When asked if he had a middle name, of which he had several, he said no. He left the office, got a job and returned to the office to say that he was married and then my grandmother, Irma, followed. They were the only two people from my family to leave Denmark.

Both of my parternal grandparents were quiet people and they did not talk about the war. Letters from the old country said only simple things: "We are fine." "We had stew for dinner." Details were left out for fear of who else was reading the letters.

My grandparents settled in New Jersey and had three children: Kenneth, Shirley and William, my dad.