Heritage+Stories-Housley,Andrew

__My heritage stories__ I interviewed my grandmother about when she went to Germany to go see my grandfather.This is what she told me. August 10, 1955 Her mother took her to the Pittsburgh airport to board a TWA flight to New York LaGuardia Airport where she would change planes for an international flight to Frankfort, Germany. Sonny had located them a two room apartment in Idar-Oberstein which was eleven miles from his base in Baumholder. Sonny knew the flight number and time that she would arrive in Frankfort, so he took a train to Frankfort to meet her. She didn't tell him that she had lost 50 lbs. and to make matters worse, she couldn't remember what he looked like. She was affraid he wouldn't recognize her and she wouldn't recognize him. She did not want to be 18, arriving in a foreign country on her own, and not be sure who her husband was! Her flight from Pittsburgh was late; so, when she arrived in New York, the plane to Frankfort had already taken off. the TWA employees arranged to put her on a first class seat on the next plane which was leaving four hours later. In those days, the only way she could contact Sonny was through a telegram; so she sent one to his address.She later found out that he had already left base on his way to Frankfort by train so he didn't know she was on another flight. While waiting at LaGuardia, she met another army wife who was younge like her and in the same predicament; so they became traveling friends which made the time go faster. There were more TEA employees on the plane than passengers. In those days, the planes were not jets, they traveled slower. It was approximently a 20-hour trip across the ocean, and the flight had a layover in London. They finally made it to Frankfort and went through customs. While she was walking down a long hallway where everyone else was going, she saw an American Soldier with a saucer hat on coming her way. Since her eyesight was not that great at a distance, she wasn't sure if this was her fellow or not. He came up, grabbed her, and kissed her; so, she figured it must be Sonny. IT WAS! That is my story when my grandmother went to Germany to be with my grandfather.