St. Augustine, Florida

June 15-21, 1944

Our marriage ceremony took place on Thursday, June 15^th, 1944. As I write this story, we are now looking forward to our 57^th anniversary on June 15, 2001. Our vows were pronounced at 7:00 p.m. in historic old Grace Methodist Church in St. Augustine. Rev. L. O. Luttrell officiated. The ritual must have lasted not more than 20 minutes, and that included beautiful organ music by the church organist. In addition to the bride and groom, there were only five persons participating: Mrs. Luttrell was present, as was her daughter who sang "O Perfect Love" (from the Methodist Hymnal) for us. Also present were the daughter's navy boyfriend and the organist. Once upon a time we had envisioned a large marriage in the Methodist Church in Dodge City, complete with all kinds of attendants, showers, the whole shebang. That never happened, and we were not sorry about missing such a spectacle. We figured our simple ceremony would last forever.... And it did.

"O Perfect Love" was so-o appropriate for us... and the daughter sang it beautifully in an untrained voice:

We can still hear her singing; but we can't remember what the organist played, only that it too was very appropriate.

There were no wild celebrations or receptions after this wedding. We all walked to the parsonage next door for light refreshments prepared by Mrs. Luttrell. The organist had another commitment, so we six joined in a low-key celebration. Katherine played lots of her favorite songs on the piano, and also our requests. I recall especially her rendition of "The Man I Love", "Stardust", "Beautiful Dreamer", and our theme song, "Beloved" ("Because of you, the skies are blue, beloved, beloved...").

Eventually, we wandered back to our room in the Ambassador Hotel for one full night of Heaven together! No other way to describe it!

Now I must back up and tell you how I got time off duty to go get married in the first place.

We had tentatively chosen June 1^st as our wedding date. Around the first of May 1944, I checked the training calendar and discovered our company would be out on maneuvers over the first of June. So we moved the date up to June 15^th, which was okay with Katherine because her parents had been married on that date in 1905, and her sister Elise and Lyman Johnson had also been married on that day in 1933. So the date of June 15^th was fine. She would be through with school teaching in Protection KS for the year.

I went in to ask our Company Commander for a furlough beginning June 14 and to last for a week...just seven days, that's all I wanted. I knocked on his door, entered when he called, halted in front of his desk, gave a snappy salute and asked, "Sir, my fiancée and I would like to get married in a couple of weeks. Could I please have a furlough?" Without saying anything, he picked up a memo lying on his desk that had just arrived and answered, "Sergeant, this order from Headquarters say all furloughs and 3-day passes are frozen until further notice." I was stunned. No use arguing; orders are orders. Ugh! What to do next? I came to "attention", threw a salute, thanked him, did an "about face" and marched to the door.

Well, no furlough for me, I thought. Our wedding would have to be on a weekend and I would have to go back to drill on Monday.

I had just about reached the door when Captain Murphy hailed me: "Sergeant! Come back here a minute!" I walked back in to his office in non-military fashion. He was studying the memo and said, "This memorandum does not say anything about 2-day passes. Do you think you could get married on THREE 2-day passes?"

My response was immediate and snappy, accompanied with a salute, "YES, SIR, I sure can!" Captain Murphy rose dramatically in my estimation at that moment. He was tall and handsome anyway, looking a whole lot like Errol Flynn. He noted my exuberance with a hearty laugh and I was on my way after saying more "thank-you's".

Our six-day honeymoon in St. Augustine was simply divine! We visited all the historic sights in the city... it had been the first village built in North America in about the year 1529. We drank freely from the old "Fountain of Youth", so designated by its discoverer Ponce de Leon. We toured the old Ft. Matanzas on the coastline. We splashed on the seashore; we rode in the old horse and buggy around town; and we ate at Capo's!! Katherine had not eaten fried fresh shrimp before and they were famous for that dish. It was an "all-you-can-eat" affair. On our first trip there, Katherine barely touched the strange-looking food, while I wolfed it down and ate hers too. The second trip, K. had gotten the appetite and found the shrimp delicious. After that, there were no leftovers.

After our return to Starke, Florida (that small town was exactly what the name implied) we stayed with the Methodist minister in their spare bedroom for a couple of days until Katherine found a room for us to live in. The local USO was the daily meeting place for all the soldiers' wives during long days. She ran down a rumor about a room to be open for occupancy. Mrs. Opperman and her 23-year old daughter lived there. Katherine got the room lined up and we soon moved in. The only problem was it cost $10.00 a week! Great Scott! How do they get by asking such an exorbitant price? asked I. The last time I had paid any rent on a room, it was in Winfield KS where I shared a room with Hank Brown, and it had only cost us $4.00 each for one month!! Ah, well... times change, as Tevye would lament. "Tradition?! What is that?"

We spent a wonderful summer in Starke, traveling to Jacksonville, Ocala, and other nearby areas of interest. In late August, Katherine had to return to Protection for the new teaching year, and in October I would go to Ft. Benning, the Infantry School, to try to earn a commission as a Second Lieutenant.

I should mention here that the reason for freezing all furloughs in late May was because the D-Day invasion was in the offing, and the high command was alerting everyone in case more help was needed in Europe. As you know, it happened on June 6^th, marking the beginning of the end of WWII. I might just as well have gotten in on that huge undertaking. It wasn't in the cards. I had more delight in doing what we were doing in St. Augustine...

We went back for a visit in 1982. Some of the magic was still there, but the Ambassador had burned down, Capo's Shrimp had long been gone, etc. Thirty-eight years had brought many changes. And so it goes...