The Welcome
They were given a festive welcome, for two hundred newsmen awaited them as well as a band. Mary was then met officially by a Lieutenant who bought her a box of chocolates and put her on the ‘20th. Century”, “the fastest American train at that time’.
After an hour’s wait in Elkhart (eleven miles away) she was eventually met by Howard and his relatives,
(Burkett Archive)
A celebrity in her time, Mary’s story was headline news in the local newspapers. The ‘Elkhart Truth’ sported the headline: “ENGLISH BRIDE OF MISHAWAKA GI MEETS HER HUSBAND HERE. Mix-up in Plans Keeps Elkhart Veteran Waiting.
“The charming and attractive young war wife was quite enthusiastic in her praise for the warm hearted informality ...she was an ‘old hand’ at posing for newspaper cameras.”
The caption beneath a photograph was suitably romantic: “they dazedly met each other, without an audible word, in the middle of the station. It was the first time she had seen him ‘in civilian clothing’ (5.2.46)
