The other night, I was amusing myself on the internet. I decided to find the video of my mother arriving in this country.
I knew it was out there, because I've seen it before, and it occurred to me that I should find it, and try to procure it to keep.
My mother, for those of you who don't know, was a war bride. She was on the first boat load of war brides to arrive in the USA from England, in February 1946.
The video shows several of the young women waving to the camera, and smiling, as they boarded the ship on their way to their new lives. My 21 year old mother is front and center.
452 brides, 30 of them pregnant, 173 children, and one war groom boarded the Argentina at Southampton on the afternoon of January 26, 1946. They sailed at approximately 1630 hrs. She arrived in New York on February 4, 1946.
They were struck by a vicious storm on the Atlantic, and most of the passengers suffered from violent seasickness.
While I was searching for the video, I came across a newsreel, about the brides when they landed in New York. So, interested, I watched it.
I found out later, talking to my mother, that the husbands were ordered NOT to meet the Argentina at the pier, but rather to go to the lobby of some hotel, where they would be reunited with their wives.
As I watched the video, suddenly I was shocked to recognize my father walking towards the camera.
There was no doubt in my mind, that I was watching my 23 year old father, waiting to meet my mother.
I have seen many pictures of my father in that coat, and that hat, taken in the first few years of my parents' marriage.
I showed the film to my mother.......and she knew immediately, that it was him.
As short as the film was, I could see that he was chewing gum.
And knowing my father, I know that it was Juicy Fruit. No doubt in my mind.
My father has been gone for 7 years now. Somehow, I just got him back, for an instant.
It is amazing how much love, and longing, you can feel in an instant.
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