American Valor Quarterly Issue 12 - Spring 2015 | Page 24

miss my train. So the next thing I
had to do was figure out how I would
get back to Bar-Le-Duc. I knew the
colonel had his personal chauffer with
him all the time. His name was Scotty.
He was in I company with me when I
first started. I told him I needed a ride
to Bar-Le-Duc. He said he was waiting
for Col. Sink.
“You know he’s going to be out until
3 a.m. Bar-Le-Duc is only 90 miles
away,” I said. “You can be there and
back in plenty of time.”
“Oh, I can’t do that,”
he said.

my orders might take time to get
processed, I had 45-day leave. I got to
her house and we had a conversation.
I found out that her fiancé was out to
sea and wasn’t expected for another
couple of months. So Ida and I had
45-days of morning to night good
times, but we kept our interactions
platonic because she was engaged. But
we had a heck of a time until the time
came about 45 days later. I got orders
to report to Fort Meade. I was calling
this young lady every night just to say
hello, and about two weeks later, I had

”How would you like
to have three or four
handmade German
pistols?” With that
question answered, I
was back to Bar-LeDuc and on a train
to Marseilles, and
eventually home.
When I got home,
I had about 25 people
waiting at the train in
Norfolk. I had caught
a train in Boston to
Norfolk. My brother
was there and I asked to
borrow his car and the
first place I went was
the liquor store. The
next place I went was
to the house of the girl
that sent me that gold
fountain pen. It was Ida
Aframe. I knew through
the letters that she had
become engaged to this
Navy guy, but I went
to see her anyhow. I’d
been told that because

a very hard day. It was a Friday and I
got special permission to go home for
the weekend to Norfolk. I went to the
officer’s club in Norfolk, I remember it
as if it was yesterday, and I called this
young lady and said, “How are you
doing?” She sounded very peculiar to
me over the phone. I said, “He’s there
isn’t he? Get rid of him, I’m coming
home.” And that started our romance.
Pretty soon thereafter we got married.
I’ve been X\