A Soldier's Love, page 1

Sunday, August 24, 2003
A soldier’s love is never forgotten
By GORDON DILLOW
The OrangeCounty Register
Like so many other young women during World War II, Ethel Betry's first great romance started with love letters, and ended, much too soon, with a terse telegram from the War Department.
But even six decades later, Ethel hasn't forgotten that young hero she was married to – and neither have his buddies of long ago.
We can start the story in 1940, when Ethel moved with her family from Iowa to Fullerton. After graduating from Fullerton High, with America suddenly in the war, she joined millions of other young women in the defense industry, landing a clerical job with Douglas Aircraft.
And then she met a boy.
His name was Theodore "Ted" Bachenheimer, a rosy-cheeked, brown-eyed half-Jewish kid who was born in Germany but whose parents had immigrated to Hollywood when he was 12. At age 18, after Pearl Harbor, Ted had joined the Army and volunteered for the paratroopers. A friend introduced them.
So Ethel and Ted began exchanging letters while Ted was back east for training – friendly, chatty letters at first, then deeper, more serious ones. In this era of instant communications it's hard to believe that people actually courted by mail back then, but they did. By the time Ted came home on leave, he and Ethel were sold on each other. They got engaged.
Their families weren't exactly wild about the idea. After all, there was a war on, and Ted was almost certain to be shipped overseas. Why not at least wait until he got back?