When the Soldiers Come Home

Photo Credit: "Burst of Joy" is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by Associated Press photographer Slava "Sal" Veder, taken on March 17, 1973 at Travis Air Force Base in California

In Love Comes Home, my new Rosey Corner book, the story starts with the surrender of Japan and everybody celebrating the news that the war is over and the "boys are coming home." Then later in the book, there are homecoming scenes. That's why I asked readers who might have homecoming stories of their own, real ones and not fictional ones like mine in the book, to share those with me. A couple of weeks ago when I wrote about the passing of my husband's Aunt Annie, I included a coming home story about when her husband made it home from World War II. I actually used hints of her story in one of the homecoming scenes in Love Comes Home. That story also touched Judy as it reminded her of the homecoming of her husband from Vietnam. Here's her story. 

"When my husband was in Viet Nam ,we were newly married. I wrote and mailed a letter every day(2 on Sat. for Sunday). I had the last letter in mail box, since he was to be home in 1-2 wks. I had an appt. to get my hair fixed, knew what I was going to wear. I told him in the letter I'd eaten onions but they'd be gone before he came home. I didn't hear his voice, and had one 3-way call in 15 months. I was so happy ..and that very day, he came home. He'd gotten an early plane out and hadn't slept in days. He came in, at the nearest airport and went to where his Dad was working, and he brought him to my parents, where I was living...I was so shocked...and very happy, onions and all...we went to visit his Mom, and went to a hotel, and he was so tired and sleepy, he knocked out..was I glad...because it was as if he had changed so much...he was much changed and for the second time I fell in love again even more than I was....I thank God he made it home.. 46 yrs ago."

Thank you for sharing with us, Judy. I'm sure that memory still is as bright today as it was then. 

I went out on the net to look for a picture of a Vietnam homecoming and found the one above. This is not Judy or anyone I know, but a photo taken of the homecoming greeting of one of the POWs who were released after the war. The picture tells it all and it's no wonder it won a Pulitzer Prize for the photographer. The link here to War Tales tells the story of a World War II veteran, Russell Ogan, who also served during the Korean War and was still in service when the Vietnam War ended. Here's what the retired Brigadier General said after looking back on his three decades with the Air Force. "Taking the prisoners out of Hanoi was the highlight of my career." You can read the rest of his story at the War Tales link. I'm sure he had some great homecomings of his own during his service to our country too. 

Remember, the giveaway contests are still going on until the end of June. Get details for my website giveaway on my News & Events page and you can throw your name in my blog contest hat (picking 5 winners of one of my books) by leaving a comment on one of my posts here in June. Please leave a way to be contacted if you want to enter the contest. Each comment on a new post gets you a new entry in the blog contest. One entry per person in the website contest. And you have to be 18 to enter.  

Forget-Me-Not

"There is something inspiring and sublime about the little forget-me-not flower. I hope it will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet." ~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Thanks to all of you who have commented here or entered my celebration contest via e-mail. I love hearing from my reading friends and have more fun when I'm not the only one doing the "talking." Some of you have great stories to tell and I'm always honored when you share them with me and then allow me to share them forward here. This time for my celebration of Love Comes Home, I suggested sharing a homecoming story or some special family story. Noelle, who has shared stories with us here before, had one that really fit one of my prizes, the Willow Tree Forget-Me-Not figurine. I don't have any forget-me-not flowers in my new Rosey Corner story, but you'll see the connection when you get a chance to read the story. By the way, I've added Love Comes Home to the Rosey Corner page on my website now where you can read about the story and sample the first chapter. 

But on to Noelle's forget-me-not and very romantic story. Here's what Noelle says:

The Willow Tree series is so beautiful but this particular figurine reminds me of a very special man...

At 6' 3", Bonpapa (affectionate form of GrandPa in French) was a striking figure, blond with green eyes like emeralds. On this particular summer day in 1927 whilst vacationing on the seaside, he rescued a young woman (on the main staircase of the hotel her family owned) from unwanted attention.

A widower and the father of a small girl, he soon fell for the striking dark haired, dark eyed young woman. A rebel (even by our standards these days), she thought to chase him away and surprised herself by not only going on a date but telling him her life story: She'd lost the love of her life in a motorcycle accident only months before and just given birth as an unwed mother to a beautiful little girl.

The rest of the story? Well, he convinced her to marry him of course and the baby girl was not just adopted but loved by this man as the apple of his life. There were other children later on but no one was more proud than him when he presented her as his daughter!

As to the Forget Me Nots? On their first date and each subsequent wedding anniversary (but for the duration of WW 2), he offered his wife, my grand'Mother a little posy of these precious flowers... In 1960 when he passed away much too soon (having lost a lung to mustard gas, he lived with only one lung ), she made sure his grave would have perpetual Forget Me Nots and thus they bloom still to this day.

  

Sigh. Now, isn't that so very romantic? The kind of thing you might find in a romance novel. I think that could be the main plot in a romance novel. Maybe Noelle has already written that or is going to. One thing for sure, Noelle had a extraordinary grandmother. Thanks, Noelle, for sharing stories about her with me and allowing me to share them with my reading friends here.

Remember, I've got the two contests going. The first one you enter by sending me an e-mail or with a comment here. Two prizes, the forget-me-not figurine and a beautiful heart necklace plus one of my books, and if you're one of those never win people, then you tell me that and you'll be entered in a special drawing for a Prayer Journal and one of my books. You can only enter that contest once. (Complete details on my News & Events Page) 

I'm also giving away five books here to my blog readers only. To enter the blog only contest, just leave a comment on any blog post before the end of June. Each comment on a new post gets you a new entry. Remember, you have to be eighteen to enter, and the paper book is for USA or Canada only, but if you live overseas, you can win an e-book version of one of my books. Plus, right now, you can still download the e-book of Scent of Lilacs free. 322 Amazon reviews so far and the vast majority have been kind. Whew! That's always a relief.


"And the day came when the risk to stay tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to bloom." ~Anais Nin

A Beautiful Day for a Homegoing

A beautiful day for a funeral - you might be wondering if you read that wrong. But that's how the preacher started the funeral service for Darrell's aunt today. Annie Pearl needed a few more weeks to reach her 96th birthday. This picture was taken when she was 91 on one of her rare visits to our house. 

She was a wonderful, loving Christian woman. The kind of woman that you know ran into heaven with the biggest smile ever on her face. Her three older sisters moved on up there ahead of her. Her parents and her husband and her son all already made the journey home. Her closest relative was one beloved granddaughter. She had many nieces and nephews that she enjoyed talking to and hearing about the great nieces and nephews and the great-great ones too. Let me think. There were even some great-great-great nieces and nephews. Families have a way of expanding, but we all could look to Annie Pearl and admire her steadfast faith and courage in facing some extremely hard times in her life. 

She had been married a while before World War II came along, and her husband joined the Army and was shipped overseas. She moved into an apartment and got a job at a factory in town the way so many soldiers' wives did. And then she watched the mailbox for letters. Sometimes they came in bunches and sometimes he got her letters the same way. He was in some of the worst fighting where most of the men in his unit did not return home. That stayed with him the rest of his life. 

Annie told the story about him coming home. She was expecting him on a certain day. She'd rolled up her hair and was planning to have the perfect homecoming for him. But he got an earlier train and got to town in the middle of the night. That was back in the days when front doors weren't all locked and so the hallway door that led up to their apartment was open. He ran up the steps to knock on Annie's door. She always laughed when she told about her hair still being in curlers. I doubt he noticed. 

I used hints of that homecoming story in my new Rosey Corner book, Love Comes Home, that releases July 1. Not the same, but the early arrival part. 

Annie Pearl's "going home" service was lovely as we celebrated this good woman's life. She gained much as she entered her eternal reward. We lost much when she suffered a stroke last week. She wasn't able to speak after that, and slowly she continued to drift away until finally she ran on home to her own special homecoming. 

We'll miss hearing all her great stories about the family. We never listen enough.