Veteran's Day

I'm taking a moment to think about how Bill and Barbara met, about 65 years ago in London's Hyde Park. They both had stopped to listen to people on Speaker's Corner. Afterward, Bill walked next to Barbara, matching strides. Neither was a tall person. He asked if he could walk with her. Her reply: "Yes. But that's all."

She was delighted. He was a U.S. military officer. She was a Wren with a longing to see the world, to leave her life in England. They walked again the next day. And sometime after that, they became a couple. During the war they were posted far apart. Their love affair burned hot through passionate postcards they wrote to each other, many with the greeting: My darling... My dearest one... Each note simmered with thinly veiled desire, jealousy and love.

About ten years ago, I had the good fortune to tour England for three weeks with Barbara, my dear grandmother. She took me to many places from her childhood and her young adulthood. She told me so many stories that I keep in my memories and in my heart. We happened to be in London on their wedding anniversary, and I surprised her by taking her to the hotel where she and Bill spent their wedding night. There were issues with her paperwork, and Bill left for the States first. Some months later, she sailed across, a war bride, leaving Leigh, England far behind.

My grandmother was dedicated to tracing the family genealogy, and to this day, if I google her name, I find links to my family history dating back to the early 1800s. It makes me sad to think that our names end up on a lineage only to be forgotten as years pass.

On Veteran's Day, I salute my grandparents, William A. Maybury and Barbara Mayor, who would not otherwise have met in Hyde Park had it not been for WWII.