Barry Dow Biegun, 93, passed away peacefully on Feb. 26 at his home in Cupertino.
Barry was the son of Leah Eisenstein Biegun and Chayim Biegun. Born in Poland, Barry was only 11 years old when Soviet troops invaded Poland in 1939. Barry was part of the largely untold story of Polish citizens who were deported by the Soviet Union to Soviet labor camps at the beginning of World War II. Barry was a child when he was sent to the Siberian labor camp, known as “The Gulag,” where he remained until he was 17 years old.
After surviving the Holocaust, Barry came to the United States. Before completing his degree, he decided to join the U.S. Air Force in June 1945 and served as a staff sergeant until he was honorably discharged in August 1952. In January 1953, Barry achieved a lifelong dream when he became a U.S. citizen.