A dad broke down in tears at becoming a U.S. citizen 111 years after his great grandpa arrived on Ellis Island before returning to Europe to collect his family and being drafted into WWI never to return. Alexander Ricciardi, 52, who lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, moved to the U.S. from Switzerland, and had Italian citizenship as he spent most of his childhood moving around Europe. Growing up, he heard stories of how, in 1913, his great grandfather came to the U.S. with the goal of getting established and later immigrating with his wife to chase the American dream. Incredibly, the family even has a photo of his signature in the record books on Ellis Island – but his great grandpa’s dreams were quickly dashed. Upon his return to Sicily in 1914 to retrieve his wife and the last of their belongings, he was drafted into the military to fight in WWI. After surviving the war and returning home, they were no longer able to move to the U.S. due to eugenics and immigration laws barring Italians from immigrating. Decades later, great grandson Alexander met his now-wife in Geneva, Switzerland, a year after she moved from the U.S. to be a nanny and sign ASL for a girl with disabilities. Alexander’s daughter, Michaela, 22, revealed the story goes constant nagging from a housekeeper persuaded her mom to finally feel confident enough in her French to meet the housekeeper’s son – Alexander. After the pair immediately fell in love, they later agreed they wanted to settle down back in the U.S. and so in 1997 Alexander left everything behind to move and take on new opportunities. Fast forward to the current day, and with Michaela living away from her family in Tacoma, Washington, when her mom gave her the news Alexander’s citizenship ceremony date had arrived, she was determined to fly home to witness her dad obtain what he worked so hard for. Without him knowing, she arrived at the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne on July 10, and as she made her way towards him he immediately broke down
