James Allan Matte

The Defector James Allan Matte

This is the story of a young Hungarian refugee Samuel Kovacs who escaped the Russian invasion of his country and immigrated to the United States, leaving behind Eva, his childhood sweetheart, with the promise of sponsorship to the US and marriage. Meanwhile he exchanged love letters with Eva and regularly sent her care packages. In order to expedite his application for US citizenship, he joined the US Army as an enlisted man and was assigned to a US Army base in West Germany near the Hungarian border. Frustrated with the nearness of her, yet unable to visit Hungary because it was a Communist country, he decided to desert his military unit, defecting to Hungary with the expectation of an amiable reception. Instead, he was imprisoned and tortured in the belief he was a CIA Agent, but after realizing he was only a truck driver and US Army private, he was released but forbidden to leave Hungary because he was a Hungarian citizen. He also learned distressing news about his girlfriend Eva that obliged him to seek residence with his cousin. Twice he tried to escape from Hungary thru the Austrian border without success landing in prison with unspeakable torture that left him only one hope for repatriation to the US; his mother and her husband in the US with the assistance of the American Embassy. After many years in Hungary, Kovacs was finally repatriated to the US, but not without learning a secret that would haunt him the rest of his life.