The War Bride

I am sure all of the wives and family members of the soldiers in Viet Nam would say a huge collective thank you to the ham operators of the time. These special liaisons would give up their own personal time to sit at their radios and be the go-between the soldier in Nam and whomever he was trying to call in the states. After each person spoke, they had to say “over” in order for the ham operator to know to click the switch to the other person on the call. Not every time a soldier tried to put through a MARS call did it go through. But as a new wife of four months plus what time in country Rick had, I was extremely grateful for the knowledge that at that moment, the father of our unborn child was still alive. There were several instances during the calls that we were reminded “we were not alone”.

Rick was saying something to me but the only word I understood was his saying “over.” I commented, “Honey, I did not understand what you said. Over”. Rick repeated his message but again the words were garbled and all I got was his “over”. To this I repeated my message that I had still not been able to understand him. “Over.” He repeated his message, ending with “over”. But still, I replied to him, “Honey, I just can’t understand you. Over.” There was suddenly a third voice on the line, “He says he loves you, ma’am.”