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Pte. Sam Yurik
British Army 38th (Service) Btn. Royal Fusiliers
from:New York, USA
Sam Yurik emigrated from Russia to the US in 1914. He never petitioned to naturalize, and thus remained a Resident Alien until his death in 1966. In 1917, when America entered the war, any immigrant who had not yet filed a petition to naturalize was ineligible for the draft, and the draft was compulsory. The risk was being deported as an alien slacker. So Sam, who registered for the draft in 1917, joined the Jewish Legion and arrived in Windsor, Nova Scotia on 22nd of July 1918, for training. Once his training was complete, he shipped to England, where he served with the 38th Btn. of the Royal Fusiliers.
Sam arrived back in North America in September of 1919 and returned to his work as a cap maker in a factory in Brooklyn. I have four eloquent letters home from 1918. I am searching for some record of where Sam served in Palestine? He left no record of his service, he kept no letters and passed on no stories. But two sisters he worked with in the cap factory kept his letters and the daughter of the sister he was in love with, gave what she had to me. Sam married a woman named Florence and they had one child, Solomon Yurik Sol who became a famous left-wing American novelist.
If anyone comes across anything related to Sam or the 38th Btn's deployment in late 1918 and early 1919, I would be grateful to learn more.
