A WW I Love Story
By Donald Levans
My father’s
sister, (my aunt Elsie) was 18 when the US entered WWI She was a bright and
pretty young lady, had graduated from Carrollton High School and was very well
employed at the bank in Carrollton.
Elsie and Loyd Wester (a young man from the same community
and church at Center Point in Carroll County) were close friends when he was
drafted into the Army. Over time, as
letters flowed to and fro, they became closer. Many of those letters have remained in our family
files. They began during basic training
(at Georgia Tech in Atlanta – Then to Quartermaster Training Camp at
Jacksonville, FL.) - The letters that we have stopped there with the last one
explaining that his outfit was moving to New Jersey for shipment to France.
Aunt Elsie died of pneumonia in March of 1920 and all that we
knew over the years was that they had been planning to marry when the war ended
and that she had these letters in her “Elsie Box.”
When the Genealogical Society began working with Christian
Montcriol’s WWI Research Project I discovered Loyd’s discharge papers:
This form reveals that he left the US for France Sept 23,
1918 and returned on July 26, 1919. This
surely brought new light to my wonderful Aunt’s “love story”. She only lived 7 months following his return. This story is the reverse of many thousands that occurred
during the war years - Almost always the soldier in the couple returned in a
coffin - This was the other way around.
Loyd went on with life, used the mechanic training that he
had received in Jacksonville to have a successful auto repair business - married a wonderful lady – raised a super family (all of which are dear friends
of our entire family).
