John M. Shalikashvili

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Image:John Shalikashvili and William Cohen 1997.jpg John Malchase David Shalikashvili (born June 27, 1936) is a retired American general who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997. He was born in Warsaw, Poland to Georgian parents. His father, Dimitri was a lieutenant-colonel in the army of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918-1921. Both of his parents fled to Poland after the occupation of Georgia by Soviet Russia in 1921. They met in Warsaw and had three children, Othar, John and Gale.

John's father fought with the Nazis during World War II. He was originally part of the Georgian Brigade, a group of expatriates fighting to take Georgia from the Soviets. But the unit was later transferred to the SS and positioned in Normandy. Dimitri was eventually captured by the British and held in a prisoner of war camp until after the war. A collection of Dimitri Shalikashvili's writings are on deposit at the Hoover Institution.

Meanwhile, John, his mother and two siblings lived through the destruction of Warsaw. As the Russian Army approached Warsaw in 1945, the family fled to Pappenheim, Germany where they were eventually reunited with Dimitri, and stayed with relatives for eight years.

In 1952, when John was 16, the family immigrated to Peoria, Illinois. They were sponsored by Winifred Luthy, the wife of a local banker. She was previously married to Dimitri's cousin. The Luthys and the Episcopal Church helped the Shalikashvili family get started, finding jobs and a home for them. Dimitri worked for Central Illinois Light Company, and Maria was a file clerk at Commercial National Bank.

When John arrived in Peoria he spoke little English. He has recalled it this way:

I spoke a little bit [of English]. But not much beyond yes and no and what time is it. And the stories that subsequently have been told that I learned English by watching John Wayne movies is only a little bit of a stretch. . . .As school was over [at Peoria High School], I would run to the local movie theater. There I would sit through movies in order to learn English. In those days movies didn't start at a specific time and end at a specific time, but they would roll continuously. . . The first time through it wouldn't make much sense to me. But the second time through, it would begin to make a little more sense. Now in my memory, that is probably very faulty, a lot of those movies were John Wayne movies or at least were Wild West movies.

Shalikashvili graduated from Peoria High School, where he was a long distance runner. He attended the local university, Bradley University, and earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in June 1958. He was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity.

In May 1958, Shalikashvili and his family were sworn in as American citizens. It was the first citizenship he ever held. He had previously been a refugee who had only been classified as "stateless", since he had been born to parents who had been refugees.

Image:John Shalikashvili 1997.jpg After graduation he had planned to work for Hyster Lift Truck, but received a draft notice in July 1958. He entered the US Army as a private, enjoyed it and applied to Officer Candidate School. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army in 1959, after graduating from Officer Candidate School. He rose through the ranks to become the highest ranking member of the US armed forces, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was appointed to that position by President Bill Clinton, effective October 25, 1993. He retired from the Army in September 1997, after serving for 38 years.

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