Sunday
Wayne arrived in Columbia, South Carolina after a long trip from Denver, Colorado on crowded trains.
Wayne and Bonnie hadn’t seen each other since February 8, 1944, seemingly a lifetime ago. They were only married for 4 months before he left for the South Pacific and he had been gone for 15 months. She didn’t know what to expect.
When the time came, she was afraid to go to the train station1 by herself to pick him up. She asked her daddy to drive her there. They parked outside the station and sat in the car waiting for him to walk out.
Bonnie saw him walk out of the station. He looked terribly tired. She felt afraid to go and greet him. She asked her daddy to go and bring him to their car. He said “No, you need to go.”
Bonnie and her daddy talked for a few minutes. Her daddy patted her on the hand finally and told her to go on: “Baby, he’s your husband. Go on now and welcome him home.”
Notes & Commentary
1 Wayne arrived at Union Station, 401 S. Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina (http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/richland/S10817740027/index.htm : accessed 20 May 2015).
Note: Bonnie’s brother died in January 1945, a casualty of the Battle of the Bulge.
Wayne's Journal 