Brig Gen Steve Ritchie and His Wife Mariana

This past week, our usual Friday morning coffee and Bible study were honored to have as guests of group member Big Gen Frank Gailer, a WWII fighter Ace and hero in his own right  (read about him here.), Brig Gen Steve Ritchie, the only Air Force jet fighter Ace in Vietnam and his wife, Mariana, join us and share their thoughts.  Gen Ritchie is the last American fighter Ace and Mariana, who fled Communist Romania, make quite the team.

In case you are not familiar with him, here is a bio on him.  Mariana shared her message of hoping to one day come and  live in America, which would be too long to post here but you can read about it here by scrolling about two-thirds down the page until you see her picture.

Her love for America is obvious and her command of English is superb for one who did not speak a word of it when she came here in 1986.  One thing not mentioned in that article was how much she and her countrymen admired Ronald Reagan.  Even when he was just running, her grandfather and father told her after listening to reports about him on Radio Free Europe broadcasts that he would be the one to topple Communism.  Every evening Mariana's family would gather at her grandfather's to secretly listen to RFE and every evening her grandfather would admonish the family never to disclose what they were doing, lest they be persecuted, or worse, by the government.  One night he forgot to say it and Mariana piped up with "Remember, Grandpa, we are never to tell anyone about this or we will all be shot."  It had a profound effect on her Grandfather, she said, to hear a young girl say those words.

If you ever get a chance to hear Steve and Mariana Ritchie speak, be sure to take it.  They are a very inspirational couple.