Jack Blanco’s father abandoned him at an early age and he was raised by his mother around the time of World War II. He was sent to several labor camps but was able to miraculously escape with his life. Later he was drafted into the US Airforce and was stationed in Guam where he came across a Bible and learned that there is a heavenly Father that loved him.

<p>Jack Blanco’s father abandoned him at an early age and he was raised by his mother around the time of World War II. He was sent to several labor camps but was able to miraculously escape with his life. Later he was drafted into the US Airforce and was stationed in Guam where he came across a Bible and learned that there is a heavenly Father that loved him.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

AudioVerse

Jack Blanco

Escaping Labor Camps and Finding God

Father in heaven, there's so many things in this world that we don't understand.

You know, we think back to World War I, World War II, Korea, whatever.

We're just going to be so glad when Jesus comes to put an end to wars and crying and sorrow and tears.

And so we ask that you will bless our meeting this afternoon, but first of all, Lord, bless the people there in Paris.

And then Father, draw close to us, all our lives, our families, and be with us in a meeting this afternoon, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, I'm going to mention a few things that are not in the book and that are not in the DVD, okay?

What I want to emphasize, you know when I was thinking about this, I really don't want to emphasize the war, Even though I'll mention it, okay?

I want to emphasize God's miracles in my life.

Because it's all about Him, it's not about me.

Well, my mother originally came from Germany, Bavaria, the area that opposed Hitler coming to power.

And they met here in this country in Chicago, planning to get married.

And you know, immigrants in those days when they came here to this country, I mean, yeah, they had to really work hard.

My mother used to work in the sweat shops of Chicago, the bakeries, and you know, work 08:10 hours a day and get home late, whatever.

Anyway, the point is they were planning their marriage.

So she would call them, you know, every evening.

They were not, that was before the days of cell phones.

You know, and you know, the long stem telephone with the hook on the side.

And you know, talk about the wedding and so on but 1 evening she called his apartment and there was no answer So she said well, you know, maybe something came up an appointment or whatever Okay, because he couldn't always get a hold of her.

She had to call him And so she called the next night and again there was no answer.

So she went over to his apartment and knocked on the door but there was no answer.

Oh, the landlady said he left a couple of days ago.

My mother felt abandoned Because I was on the way And You know What do you do?

When she has to work in all the sweatshops and here she's got a new 1, what does she do with them?

And I was a little preemie, born, I don't know whether I was born early, I must have been born early, maybe, you know.

Well she found, we lived in 1 of these high-rise buildings in Chicago, or I shouldn't say high-rise, but anyway, you got apartment buildings about 3 stories up, you know and and Steps going up the back, you know Wooden balconies, you know there in the back and so on and so yeah, she found a babysitter there And 1 day she came home a little early and the door was open and I was sitting in there in the corner crying.

And so she said, you know, how come he's sitting in there crying?

Well, they said we told him if he stopped crying we'd give him something to eat.

She said he's crying because he is hungry.

And then another day she came home a little early, walking up the steps.

In the meantime, I must have been About a year old or a year and a half.

And trying to get a broom loose that was under a rocking chair on the back porch.

And I pulled real hard and lost my balance and fell backwards and you know, you have the railing there, You know, what do you call them, slats or whatever?

But anyway, they were not very close together.

So a little guy, I pulled real hard and fell through those slats and on down, 3 stories down.

My mother was coming up the stairs and saw me fall and then she almost ran back down and almost lost her balance, whatever, running back down here.

I was on the ground and I was unconscious.

Fortunately, I hit the, you know, the lawn, not the cement.

But anyway, I was unconscious for about a week.

And I mean, God's intervention, you know, I mean Anyway, you know then Recovered and my Great aunt my mother's aunt my great aunt felt a little sorry for us and she Finds she took us in and that that was a relief more.

It was more regular family living, you know She had my great aunt of course had sons and my uncles, and of course, they were older, grown, and so on and so forth.

And so I grew up, and when I got to be, you know, school age, my mother was a faithful Catholic.

And so, you know, when I was, well, I should go back, when I was born, you know, shortly thereafter I was baptized, you know, obviously, a little baby sprinkled by the priest.

But anyway, when I got to be elementary school age, yeah, I went to school and the nuns, what I, 1 thing I remember about the nuns, they were very kind.

Really, I mean, they would come into the classroom and they would say, how many of you didn't have breakfast today?

You know, kids, we would raise our hand, and she'd say, come on back, take us back to the kitchen and feed us breakfast.

There are some very kind Mother Teresas out there.

And anyway, you know, then I got to be a little older, 7, 8, 9.

When I was about 10 years old, my mother said, well, she had been in this country for 17 years or so.

Well, she would like to go back and see her grandparents and, you know, my, I mean her parents, my grandparents.

She saved up some verification time so she could be over there for about 3 weeks or whatever.

And we went over, she saved money, and we went over on the ship.

I still remember the name of the ship, Columbus it was called.

It was making the regular trip between Bremenhaven in Germany and of course, you know, New York.

And so we went from Chicago to New York, got on a ship, went over there 8 days and Of course when we got there in Bremenhaven, we had to take the train down to Hohenberg in Bavaria, near Leipzig.

And of course my grandparents met us and all, they're glad to see.

My mother was glad to see her, you know, brothers and sisters, whatever.

And of course my grandfather owned a little farm that was in Hohenberg, not too far from Prague, Czechoslovakia, which of course Hitler later took over and You know being on the farm I want to tell you is a different experience than living in Chicago oh Inner city.

Oh, yeah, real animals, not just pictures of animals, you know.

So 1 day my grandfather, after about a week or so, he talked to my mother and said, you know, why don't you let him stay out of school for a year and stay on the farm and work and get some sunshine, develop some muscles, okay?

And yeah, so my mother said, Let's ask him.

Well now wait a minute, you ask a 10 year old if he wants to stay out of school for a year, what is he going to say?

Didn't know what I was saying I want to tell you.

Because my mother was the only person in the world I knew who really loved me.

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Escaping Labor Camps and Finding God

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