A couple of weeks ago we read a remarkable story.  A twenty-nine year old stockbroker was packing for a ski trip when a friend working in a refugee camp called and asked him to come give him a hand. What he saw in occupied Czechoslovakia there in 1939 changed his life – those children had to be gotten out of Czechoslovakia. He came home to England and started a campaign to persuade the British government to accept Czech Jewish children if he could find them foster families. Nicholas Winton, a Christian with Jewish roots, organized the volunteers and set up trains to bring the children out of danger. A total of 669 children were saved from almost certain death – as I remember from another article, every one of them lost their families to the holocaust. 15,000 Czech children lost their lives during  World War II and most of the 250 children in the last train, which was not permitted to leave Czechoslovakia died as well. Read the story here and the story of two survivors here and here.

Earlier this month, on Sir Nicholas’s 100th birthday, they had a reenactment of the train trips with 22 survivors and their families. This is really something to celebrate! A young man, not in government, not famous, just an ordinary guy, did the extraordinary. He got involved, he stepped up to the plate and saved 669 innocent children from torture and death. Happy Birthday, Sir Nicholas, you are a true knight!