A Soldier's Love, page 2

But while those of us in post-World War II generations may not think of our parents or grandparents as wild romantics, they actually were. To them the war wasn't a reason not to get married; it was a reason to get married as soon as possible, before it was too late.
In fact, if you look at any bar graph of marriage rates over the past century, you'll see that the per capita marriage rate in America in 1942-43 was far higher than it had ever been before, and (except for a spike in 1946) was higher than it has ever been since.
In short, young Americans were marrying in droves – Ted and Ethel among them. In March 1943, Ethel traveled to North Carolina, where Ted was temporarily stationed, and on a spur of the moment they got married. He was 20; so was she.
Six weeks later, Ted climbed aboard a troop transport headed overseas.
Ethel never saw him again.
She got letters, though, from Sicily and Italy and England. A member of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, PFC Ted Bachenheimer was rapidly becoming a legendary figure. Able to speak fluent, accentless German, Ted was known for infiltrating German lines and coming back with intelligence and prisoners.
He even got written up in the papers back home. In 1944, after the 504th had jumped into Holland and Ted had helped the Dutch underground rise up against the Germans, the Los Angeles Times ran a story headlined, "Hollywood Hero Becomes 'General' of a Dutch Army."
But then the letters stopped and the telegram came. Ted was missing in action; a year later he was officially listed as killed-in-action. It turned out he'd been captured in Holland and executed by the Germans.
And Ethel was a widow at 21. All she had left of Ted was some letters and photographs and medals – Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart.
Well, it was hard, but life had to go on. The war ended, the boys came home, Ethel eventually remarried and happily raised a family.