“The Long Way Home” was written by John Fedyszyn and tell the story of Agnes Pfleuger.

A few years ago, John D’Agostino of the Dunkirk OBSERVER gave me the green light to go out and get stories of local veterans for the In Honor or In Memory sections of the paper.

I was given as much newspaper space to tell each veteran’s story, mostly starting from their first day heading off to boot camp to their return home. Many of the stories were done with the veteran’s wife present, some hearing the stories for the first time of what their spouse had done while serving. I was honored to do more than 150 stories.

I made many visits to the Chautauqua County Home in Dunkirk to do articles on those who were patients. On one of my many visits, a nurse approached me and asked if I would meet with Agnes Pfleuger. After completing the story I came to write, I then went for the first time to meet with Pfleuger who I assumed was a service woman who had proudly served.

Entering her room, I started to introduce myself and she replied, “I know who you are!” I started out by asking Pfleuger what branch of the military she served in? Her reply was none, “I served in the BEF (British Expeditionary Forces) during World War II.”

She was attached to a night artillery unit that used spotlights to find German aircraft and fire anti-aircraft rounds to bring enemy planes down. She then went on to tell me she had fallen in love with a U.S. serviceman and was married while still at war.

She was an amazing lady who had more memory than my computer. We agreed to meet again, and we would spend two to three hours a visit talking about the war years and how she and her husband would meet. Her wedding day only lasted a few hours before both had to return to their duty stations not knowing it would be years before they would meet again in the United States.

Once the wedding vows were complete, she became a war bride, a term that was given to women who married U.S. servicemen during the war. It was a title that she and other war brides carried until their death.

Pfleuger told me her incredible story of her War Bride life. I did a weekly In Honor story on her military duties, not going into the details of meeting her husband after years of waiting for the war to end then waiting for all the servicemen who were to return first then waiting for all the military equipment also to be returned.

Finally, Congress on Dec. 28, 1945, passed the War Brides Act which started the approval of War Brides being able to reunite with husbands that some had waited years.

She had told her story to me with the understanding that I would tell her story after she passed away.

While going over my notes of time spent with Pfleuger, I came across some interesting facts on military War Brides. The very first War Brides ship left the United Kingdom on Feb 4, 1946, which carried on board 452 war brides, 173 children and one male bride groom. The ocean trip lasted 10 to 12 days depending on the weather. The ships used were old transports and some old, converted Cruise ships used to transport military personnel to the wars.

There were 100,000 War Brides just from the UK.

War brides faced discrimination, isolation and hostility in the U.S. Many other issues were found when the bride reunited with their husband that were related to their religion, nationality, family members and the mothers who had picked the local girl they wanted for their sons on his return and many other problems from the local women.

Things war brides needed to know before their trip: the Pledge of Allegiance, all the state capitals, The Star-Spangled Banner, understanding all branches of our government, how the Supreme Court worked and the different branches of our government.

There were so many stories about Pfleuger, but in closing one of the funniest that she loved to tell is when she was on her ship heading to New York. All the ladies had to take a four-hour course on American money and the difference between the money from the UK.

She remembered her four-hour money course. A penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, dollar, two dollars. She took the Money Test and she got 100% — so proud and anxious to use her skills when she arrived in New York.

The very first thing she wanted to do is use her money skills she learned on ship. Agnes, so excited, walked to the first newsstand and asked for a newspaper and a pack of gum. Excited for the American amount she asked how much? The man replied “2 bits!”

I am so proud to tell the stories of all who had served, I am also so proud to share the story of Agnes Pfleuger, “The Long Way Home, Recollections of a War Bride.” It is available on Google Books and Amazon.