By Georgia Jensen Blosil

I recently had a discussion with one of my seven sons regarding whether or not a new US Congressman should be allowed to place his hand on the Koran when being pledged to serve the government of the United States of America. As a result, my passionate American patriotism became inflamed anew.

My husband’s name is Warren Blosil. His father Rudolph was born in Austria to an Austrian mother and a Czechoslovakian father. Warren’s mother’s parents were born in Denmark.

His very young Danish grandmother was alone and so poor that her passage to America was on the deck of the ship, even strapped down in an ocean storm.

Warren’s father Rudolph immigrated to America at age four years through Ellis Island with his baby sister Emma and his parents, Antonio Plasil and Josepha Kargelmeyer. It was there that their name Plasil was misspelled Blosil. And so it has remained.

My children are proud of their European ancestry. Recently, five of my seven children went to Ellis Island together to commemorate and celebrate the 100th anniversary of their Plasil/Blosil ancestors’ immigration to the United States.

I am reminding my children (and grandchildren) of the story of their Czech and Austrian great grandparents, Antonio and Josepha. They were so eager and grateful to come to the free land of America with their two children that they willingly and even gladly accepted a misspelled name, a new name, and refused to teach German to their son and daughter.
Rudolph Blosil, my beloved father-in-law, proudly shared with his posterity what his parents said to him:

“We are now Americans. My children are Americans. And, you will speak English.”
In addition, Antonio had been an ornamental iron specialist in Europe. In America, he worked in the iron industry until retirement. Because of his exceptional skills, during World War II he was called back to serve his country in that industry. Thus, Rudy, his son, was brought up a grateful and proud American patriot. And so he remained throughout his valiant ninety-one years of life. From him our family has inherited Antonio’s precious 1919 Certificate of Naturalization.

More than one of my ancestors traveled on the Mayflower to America. My ancestry includes Southern States plantation owners, Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers, pioneers who settled the eastern and western American continent, and helped establish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all the way from Kirtland, Ohio to the Salt Lake Valley. I have two uncles who fought in World War I and a brother who fought in World War II.

I remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States declaring war on Japan. I was just nine years old. My brother James Ralph Jensen enlisted in the United States Submarine Service. I did not know if my brother would survive the war (and he did not), but I knew America would win the war–no doubt about it–because of what our nation believed. Through all my school years I have proudly pledged allegiance to our flag and sung the Star Spangled Banner. And I knew why. I love my country.

We Latter-day Saints know Jesus Christ is the God of the Old and New Testaments, and I believe He established this country of America. In this free land and nation Christ re-established His church, and the New Jerusalem will be established in America. This nation was founded upon Christian ideals and principles recorded in the Bible.

Let us remember that we are a Christian nation. Let Americans continue to pledge our allegiance to our country, and require that all U.S. government officials–with their precious liberty to personally believe whatever philosophies they may choose–pledge to serve and uphold this country as American patriots, traditionally with their hands on the Bible, the source of our American principles, laws and blessed way of life.

Georgia Blosil is the author of Divine Reflections, a trilogy of poems celebrating the life of Jesus the Christ, and several other illustrated poems available through Deseret Book.