Homecoming

by Michelle

During World War 2, my grandparents were newlyweds. My grandfather was an engineer, but he was also a soldier in the army (as was every other able-bodied man at the time). My grandmother was a nurse at the Philippine General Hospital. One day, my grandfather came to the hospital to tell her that they’d been asked to go to Bataan for training, but that he’d be back in a few days.

She never saw him again.

Years later, my mother had become a doctor and was a resident at the same hospital. One day she had a patient who was a war veteran. When he found out her name and that she was the daughter of a former nurse, he told her that he had been in the war with my grandfather, and that they had been together at the Bataan Death March. During the march my grandfather had died of dysentery but had talked constantly about his young pregnant wife waiting for him.

So after about 25 years he kept his word, and finally came back to her.