GREENSBURG, Ind. – Abbas Altemimi was an Iraqi citizen fighting for our values before he ever stepped foot on American soil.
He took part in over 3,000 combat missions alongside U.S. soldiers defending the freedoms he had yet to experience.
“It was my goal. I said ‘I will not give up.’ I told myself that I would fight until I win or die,” Altemimi recalled. “I was blown up six times and I thought I would never make it this far, but I always wanted to come here.”
The path toward U.S. citizenship through naturalization is a five-year process culminating in a test on English skills and civics.
Abbas had to survive first.
He was a teenager when he left his home in the farmlands of Balad, Iraq, and joined the Iraqi Army fighting against the Saddam Hussein regime.
It was around the same time U.S. forces invaded his homeland in 2003.
“It took me six months to learn English and I helped the American Army, and they asked me if I wanted to help the American Special Forces because I speak the language and have experience,” Altemimi noted.
“So, I got trained to teach and help Iraqi troops, and I worked as a translator in the Iraqi Army at the same time working with all the [U.S. military] branches.”
Between 2003 and 2008, Altemimi worked closely with the U.S. Army Special Forces, U.S. Marines Corp, U.S. Army, and Indiana National Guard.
Altemimi met North Decatur High School graduate Paul Hellmich while serving with the Indiana National Guard in Iraq.
A friendship formed in the middle of a warzone still stands true today.
Abbas arrived in the United States for the first time in 2008 and found a new home in Decatur County, a farming community that reminds him of back home.
On Saturday, Paul and his family were among over a hundred community members gathered at North Branch Golf Course as Abbas, 28, celebrated his newly-obtained American citizenship.
“It is a really important day to me, it is really beautiful,” Abbas said. “I lost so many cousins and friends but it is worth it to fight for it, for freedom.”
“I have been here for five years and I wake up every morning and love everyday of it. When you are free you’re like a bird, you open your wings and can fly anywhere in this country.”
“You can have any education, any college, any dream you have, you are free.”
Half a world away, Abbas still cannot escape the impact of war as he tries to remain in contact with his family via Facebook and phone calls.
In the past six months, the conflict between his Iraqi forces and the ISIL terrorist group has claimed 28 people that he knew from back home. Many of them are his cousins, others are friends.
“It is really sad,” Altemimi exclaimed. “Just like the ISIS, the Al Qaeda, and the terrorists, they always want to take our freedom. Like Saddam did to Iraq, it’s like Hitler to Germany.”
“You cannot control people’s lives. They try to take our freedom away and control us by killing.”
Altemimi told us that he hopes people in his native country eventually get the same rights we have here.
“All of the people there want to live and have their kids go to school and come back safe, go to your job and come back and not worry about who is going to kill you or who is going to blow up.”
“When I say the [United States} is freedom, its freedom, I hope Iraq gets there one day.”
Abbas is currently dating Amber Champagne, of Houston, Texas.
A love found in the middle of a warzone still stands true today.
Amber was working as a contractor and Abbas was serving in the military when they first met in Iraq in 2008.
“I would warn her that if I didn’t come home after a mission, something was wrong. One time, after a few days she found me in a hospital,” Altemimi remembered.
They have recently reconnected and Amber was at his American citizenship celebration Saturday.
He hints that he may soon be moving to Texas.
“That’s freedom,” Abbas says.
