Family and friends are remembering George Felhosi, and sharing this remembrance with the community:

George was born June 6, 1939, in Óbuda, Hungary, a small, unincorporated town north of Budapest.

Born into a small family and the older brother of one sister, George fled Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. He was given two American dollars, so his father told him to run to the neighboring country of Austria with his neighbor.

After three days of arduous travel by foot, George made it to the Austrian border, where a farmer picked up the two young men in his tractor and took them to the Red Cross Refugee camp in Coasetanburg. After weeks in a retired military barracks, he and the other Hungarian men were bussed to Lido, Italy, on December 17th, 1956. There, the Italian consult offered them a choice: volunteer for service in the U.S. military for citizenship or learn Italian. Unfortunately for George, he was not 18; along with three other boys, he lived in Milan until his birthday.

Flying to Frankfurt, Germany, he and 40 other refugees were sworn into service for the U.S. Army. From there, he was sent to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where he attended an English language school for six months in 1957. Then, after finishing basic training, he was shipped off to Fort Lewis, Washington. From there, he was sent to Camp Kaiser, Inchon, Korea, where he served as a machine gunner in the primary invasion defense group, enduring 13 months of active conflict without leave. After his tours of duty in Korea, he transferred to the Atomic Fallout Recovery Division, then to the military sports club, where he played soccer for the American team, traveling for two years. Being discharged on June 27th, 1962, he returned to Seattle, getting a job at Bethlehem Steel for six years before becoming a longshoreman in 1969, working for 35 years at the Port of Seattle and retiring in 2004.

George’s love for skiing, Formula One, and Harley-Davidson motorcycles took him all over the world. George was a dedicated and loyal friend who we will all dearly miss.

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