Melanie A. Ippolito

An Ocean Apart: A War Bride's Tale Melanie A. Ippolito

The citizens of Belfast, Northern Ireland were keenly aware of the war raging in Europe and elsewhere. They duly put up their blackout curtain, formed fire-watch patrols and stood patiently in endless queues with their ration booklets. They never expected the German Luftwaffe would actually bother to attack their remote island. That complacency was shattered in April of 1941. After that first attack, eighteen year old Elizabeth Fleming refused to evacuate along with her two younger sisters, to the seaside town of Bangor, thirteen miles up the southern side of the Belfast Lough. Just over a week later, Elizabeth was caught away from home during the second and most deadly attack. She was plagued with nightmares for months afterwards. In late April of 1942, Richard Harrison, a laboratory technician serving with the U. S. Army Medical Corps, boarded an army transport ship in route to N. Ireland. Six weeks later the two would meet at a dance in a Belfast ballroom.