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HESS TIRE
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
The Sentinel JUNIATA VALLEY MAGAZINE
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The war bride
Matthew Bolich
Matthew Bolich’s grandparents, when his grandfather Mahlon was stationed in Germany during World War II.
Matthew Bolich is advertising director of The Sentinel.
My grandmother Elizabeth was born in Bad Konig, Germany in 1928. She was a teenager as World War II raged across Europe. She was only 15 when her only sibling, Franz, a soldier of only 19 years of age, perished in the Ukraine during clashes between German forces and the Red Army.
Life was undoubtedly hard in postwar Germany, when Elizabeth met an American soldier, Mahlon, who was stationed near her town. They fell in love, but when Mahlon’s tour ended, they had to part, with my grandfather leaving to go back to the United States and my grandmother left behind in Germany.
It was arranged that the couple would reunite in America, with Elizabeth flying to New York in 1947. There were many war brides on that plane, all leaving behind everything they knew, including their families, to start a new life. When my grandmother arrived at the airport, many of the brides were met by their husbands or fiances.
My grandmother and another girl waited. And waited. No one was there to meet them. They were told they would have to go back if no one showed
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