One Per Cent Luck -

He was a 10 year old boy who lived a happy, carefree life in a real, honest-to-goodness castle in Czechoslovakia.

One morning, on his way to school with his sister, Milu, they saw Hitler's tanks, guns and soldiers parading in the streets, and everything changed forever.

In the months and years to come, Fred Sirotek remembers the terror of the Nazis barging with guns and bayonets into their home late at night in search of his Catholic father, who risked his and his family's lives to help his Jewish employees and friends.

When WW II was over, the family's struggles began anew with the Communist takeover of their country. One night the family made a dramatic escape across the border to Germany.

Eventually they landed in Canada and started the slow business of building a life. Fred began a business that went on to become one of the premier construction and land-holding companies in Ottawa.

He attributes much of his success to luck-but only a very little bit. "Just about one per cent is all you need", he says, "as long as it comes at the right time."