Eternal Sweethearts

By Sandra Wilkins

I want to pay tribute to Veteran’s Day this year by telling a love story. My paternal grandparents were married on November 11, 1942 in a pastor’s home just a couple of days before he went into the Army Air Corps after being drafted. Following boot camp and being stationed at various U.S. bases, he was sent to Framlingham Air Base in England. He was with the 568^th Bomb Sq. of the 390^th Bomb Group. He was trained as a mechanic, but, mostly, his work consisted of loading bombs onto the B-17’s that flew day missions over Germany. He was there about three years and he and my grandma wrote numerous love letters back and forth—which she saved in a scrapbook. I want to share part of one of them with you:

       

                                                                                                  Somewhere in England,

                                                                                                            May 19, 1944

 Dearest Wife,

             I will answer your letters I received today. I was really glad to hear from you. I am okay and I hope this finds you the same…

            Darling, I received the pictures today that you sent me. They are really good pictures. As I sit here now looking at your picture while I write this letter I can’t see how I was ever lucky enough to get a sweet girl like you. Sweetheart I love you so much. You get more beautiful every day.

            Darling I can’t hardly wait until we can be together again. Pictures make me homesick but I love to get them. A couple of the boys here in the barracks want the picture with you on the horse but I wouldn’t part with any of them for anything in this world…

            You know honey sometimes I wish we had a baby but with this war on one can’t tell what will happen…

                                                           
                             With all my Love,

                                        Melvin

            In one letter he said he was scheduled to go to the Pacific theater and he dreaded the possibility. He was able to get leave and landed in the U.S. on Grandma’s birthday in 1945. World War II ended and he was discharged. They ended up having two boys—the youngest is my dad. My grandparents had a long, happy life together. They helped each other with whatever had to be done. He could cook and clean and she helped with building things and gardening.

            They were eternal sweethearts—holding hands, laughing, sharing their love of music and being there for each other in sickness and health, in good times and bad. I wonder how they were able to stay that way. Maybe, the threat of looming death at the beginning makes spouses more grateful and they never take each other for granted.

            Grandma passed away in 1996 and Grandpa in 2008. He never dated anyone after she passed, but waited for the time they could be together again. I long to know their secret. The older I get, the more I wish I could ask them how they lived such a shining example of love and joy in marriage because it was an amazing thing to see.

   Sandra Wilkins is busy writing another series while home educating her two daughters. Ada’s Heart, Rose’s Hope and Gwen’s Honor are her first three published wholesome historical romances.
 Go to www.sandrawilkins.com to find out more about her and her books.