StoryCorps: Lilly and Don Rich (Web Extra)

Lilly: We met…Wokingham, England. You had just arrived from the States. I was stationed there in the army – British Army. And I had gone to the movies, which was the pictures, I’d gone to the pictures with my friend and we came out in the blackout and we were walking along going back to our camp, and we knew that two fellows were walking behind us. And one of them said, “Ma’am, can you tell us where we can get something to drink?” And we said, “ Well, if you follow us, we’ll show you.” And we took you to an army canteen that was in the local Methodist church; it was a coffee house. I don’t think that’s was what you were looking for. I don’t think you were looking for coffee.

Don: Well, perhaps not, but anyways, it turned out, we stopped in there and had a cup of tea. And I can remember that we did do some dancing that night. And it seems to me like after that first dance, I couldn’t stop dancing with you and I’ve been dancing with you ever since. Well anyway, my feelings grew and grew and grew and I knew right off after a few weeks then that we were meant for each other. So we used to get together just about every night that we could. Not too much activity going on. I’m talking about war activity.

Lilly: War time.

Don: The bombing and so on. And as we became more and more, I like to say, “in love,” I decided that I think we should get married. And it seemed like it was awful quick. So in order to do this we had to get permission from the army.

Lilly: The United States army.

Don: Yes, from the U.S. Army in order to get married. So I went to my company commander and requested permission. So we waited and we waited and we waited.

Lilly: In the meantime, I was interviewed many times to find out what kind of a person I was, morally. But you – no one interviewed you.

Don: No, but, it went on and on. This happened in January and of course, the invasion happened on June 6th, the following June 6th and of course I was scheduled to leave for the invasion of France at the time. So we had to leave.

Lilly: And I moved, my company moved, down near the coast. I was down on the coast at the time of the invasion.

Don: So once we arrived in France, the kind of work that I was doing, which turned out to be crane operator, shovel operator. And they needed someone to work in the pit, to load trucks and things. To build roads and fill in gullies so that General Patton’s tanks could move forward. And during that process, the captain came and he jumped up on my machine and he said, “I got good news for you, Rich. I have your papers to get married.” Well, I don’t think I should say what the words were that came out of me at that time, wouldn’t be polite. So anyway, I knew that it was too late. We were well on the move so there’d be no way possible to get married. So as it turned out, I travelled across during the whole war in Europe. All the way to Austria and it took a year. And I came back after the war ended in Germany. We were on our way to the coast of France to prepare to go to the South Pacific and as it turned out we had a little bit of a lay-over there, while we were getting ready. The army had allowed two people out of our company to go on a 10-day leave, rest period. Of course at that time I wasn’t really eligible. Our company commander took one of the passes to leave for 10 days so the Lieutenant that was in charge at the time after the Captain left. He came to me and said, “Don, do you still want to get married?” And I said, “Yes, of course. I’m going back after this war is over. I’m going back to England.” And he said, “Well, we have an opening for one GI out of the company to go to…"

Lilly: But you’re leaving something out.

Don: Yes.

Lilly: You had been on pass to Paris.

Don: Yes, I had been on a pass to Paris and I overstayed that pass and so I was on company report at the time and I wasn’t eligible for this chance to go on a 10-day furlough. But anyway, the Lieutenant came to me and says, “We’re going to draw names put everybody’s name including yours in a hat and draw out one name.” So a little while later he came back and he says, “I’ll be darned if we didn’t draw out your name, so you can go to England” And I said, “Well, it’s kind of difficult. I spent all my money in Paris; I don’t have any money.” And he said, “Well, we’ll take care of that.” So they went around and took a collection; gave me a pass and some money and I hitched a ride down to where the ships were on the English Channel. And I bummed a ride on a fishing boat and I crossed the channel. And then it all began. I arrived in Lilly’s home, told her mother I was there to get married. And she said, “Well Lilly’s way up in Scotland or somewhere…

Lilly: I was up in the northern part of England. My mother sent a telegram. In those days you didn’t phone; you sent telegrams. And this telegram came: “Donald arrived this morning.” Well I had no furloughs coming. I had used all my leave time up. So the only way I could get a leave to go home was to say that someone had died or I was going to get married. So I took the chance and said, “I’m going home to be married.” I didn’t know that. There was nothing said about that. So I was given a 10-day leave and I went home by train. When I got to Hounslow, there was no way, no transportation so I had to walk 2 miles to get home. I don’t know it was quite late, quite late when I got home. And when my mother answered the door, I said, “Where is Donald?” And she said, “Shhh, he’s so tired, he’s sleeping.” And I said, “Well I’ve walked 2 miles, so get him up.” And you came down the stairs.

Don: I guess, I can remember that like it was yesterday.

Lilly:You said, “We’re going to be married.”

Web Extra: After World War Two ended, though Don and Lilly were married, there were a few more obstacles that kept them apart. Click here for more of the story.

Web Extra: Though her father was in the military, he didn't approve of her choice of Don, a G.I., as a husband. Click here for more of the story.