Throwback Thursday - The Notebook

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

February 15, 1943, at the Boston Common
Caption on back of photo of Dad: My First Furlough
Keeping the Bench Warm
Taken in the Boston Common. Tremont St. behind him

In Feb. 1943 I was given a furlough home and I went home for two weeks.

I saw a lot of Mary, we went to the movies, dinners, visiting. It was one heck of a cold Winter in the North that year. It was the worst we had. And I would pick her up at work most nights. We spent every moment we could together.

We also or I had plans and told her that on the next time I was furloughed, we would get married. And when I returned to camp I asked when I would be eligible. The answer was July.

I made sure my next trip home would be on schedule. I told the front office I intended to be married. I also made arrangements with our religious member who happened to be a Catholic priest and did what ever needed to be done on my end. And one thing was that my father was not very religious and would not let us go to First Communion. So I studied with my priest at the camp. And when I completed my study, he sent the papers that were necessary to the Mt. Carmel Church in East Boston and Mary followed it up. [Ed: in order to be married in the Catholic church and to receive the sacrament of Matrimony, a Catholic has to complete 4 other sacraments: Baptism, Communion, Penance (now called Reconciliation), and Confirmation. Dad was baptized in the Church as I have a copy of hi baptismal certificate. Besides preparing for the sacrament of Communion, he would also have to have completed the steps to be confirmed.]

The only thing that I was needed was for me to show up. I did but even in wartime travel is a big thing. And although I left early the time began to speed up. While I was expected early I did not show up as expected. I got home about 10 o'clock at night. And everyone gave a sigh of relief. It was Saturday late at night.

But we were on time for the wedding on Sunday. [ed 4. July 1943 at 4:15 PM. Ma said 14 brides got married that day. Every 15 min. like and assembly line] Our parents had reserved a hall. Invitations wre sent and they wait for the day. And as noted it went on time. My cousin Manuel [ed Uncle Manny, the stone cutter's son] stood up for me. He was also in the service, he got good duty he was close to home on The Cape [ed: Cape Cod]. The government had also to make sure that our shorelines and harbors were secure.

Maid of Honor and Best Man, Ma's sister, Josie (Doti) and Dad's cousin, Manny
Ma's parents, Her mother is wearing a light, colored hat
Dad's parents, His mother is wearing a dark colored hat

We also had WACs, etc. They were women volunteers who did a lot of secretarial work and other duties that released a man. All told we had 22,000,000 citizens in the services men and women scattered all over the world.

Anyway we got ready to leave [ed: the wedding] and asked my cousin if they would like to come with us to the hotel for a drink. He and his wife declined. So we went off. It was late when we got there and we were tired so we got ready for bed.

It must have been 2 o'clock in the morning when the phone rang and who was it that was calling? Charlie Arnold. Mary had told them where we would be staying. And leave it to Charlie to pull pranks. He wanted to know how things were going. I said very well, the army is on maneuvers. What did you think?! He laughed and said he wanted to make sure that everything was okay. My wife then talked with Doris. She kept in touch with them especially Doris. She spent weekends with her. They went shopping, etc.