My Dearest Darling: Letters of Love in Wartime by Lisa Franco
It was only by chance that journalist and author Lisa Franco found the seeds of what would become a decade-long passion project. Browsing through an antique shop in Cape Cod, she found a large trove of handwritten letters in a basket marked “World War II Ephemera.” What she would discover, however, is something more precious than the store’s label would suggest — the only remaining documentation chronicling the story of one Donald “Donnie” Edgar Storey and the love of his life, Margery “Mardy” Eleanor Stickles, the basis for what became My Dearest Darling: Letters of Love in Wartime.
It was a romance that began in college while Donald was attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and Mardy was attending Mary Washington College in nearby Fredericksburg. Needing a date for a dance, Donnie remembered that Mardy, an old schoolmate, was also living in the area. Mardy said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history.
But what a history it is! You see, this love story takes place during one of the most difficult and harrowing years the U.S. has been through — World War II. And if you haven’t guessed it yet, the fact that Donald was enrolled in Naval Academy can only mean one thing: It wouldn’t be long before he would be deployed an ocean away to join the fight.
What evolves is four years of separation, punctuated occasionally by blissful but short reunions, some of which produced milestones in their relationship — their wedding and brief honeymoon, and the conception and birth of their first child. The time in between and after is full of news from home, the tedium of long days and nights in service aboard various vessels, and, most of all, romantic longing and daydreaming about the end of the war, when the couple could be permanently reunited.
But the end of the war would not prove to be the end of their separation. Even after Donnie tendered his resignation to the Navy, it would be a frustrating year as Donnie’s vessel is tasked with assignment after assignment to haul various equipment back to the States amid frustrating mechanical issues and logistical setbacks. But it only makes their reunion (or our imagined vision of it) that much sweeter.
PIECING TOGETHER SCRAPS OF A LOVE STORY
Franco’s discovery contained mostly letters from Donnie to Mardy, and not all of his letters had survived. So, she put her journalism skills to good use in tracking down the couple’s children to get some background on the many in-jokes and personal references made in the letters, as well as context for the couple’s relationship in general. This is accompanied by painstaking research to match up the dates of Donnie’s letters to the locations and events from which they were written.
This is because there is much that Donnie was not permitted to tell Mardy about his wartime activities, although he occasionally refers to them in vague terms and with subtle clues about events in the Pacific theater. The reader is treated, however, to first-hand reactions to key WWII events: the execution of Mussolini, Hitler’s suicide, the surrender of Germany, the death of Roosevelt, the bombs dropped over Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the surrender of Japan and the saber-rattling of the war’s aftermath as Stalin seizes the Eastern bloc and turns from U.S. ally to U.S. enemy.
We get to know Donnie as a somewhat goofy love-sick puppy, adorably pining for cuddles with his “Snookie” and their daughter “T’Nook.” As the months wear on, his pining becomes ever more arduous and passionate, longing for the time when he can take Mardy in his arms and “have a party” — Donnie’s code word for making love. He comes across as such a sweet and loving person, so far removed from the sailor at war he must have had to become.
For Mardy’s part, we only get a sense of her from Donnie’s teasing references and fond reminiscences in the letters. Only a few of Mardy’s letters to Donnie were in the packet Franco discovered. But she comes across as a resourceful woman who’s every bit as much in love with Donnie as he is with her.
Franco acknowledges that while Donnie and Mardy’s story is special and moving, it also has a happy ending that not every WWII love story enjoyed. “It can never be known just how many romances were kindled during World War II. Many flourished and survived after the war, but many were extinguished because of separation or the ultimate sacrifice. Donald and Mardy’s love story pays tribute to all of them.” I couldn’t say it better.
About Lisa Franco:
Lisa Franco has been telling people’s stories for more than four decades. As a writer/producer for the ABC television affiliate WTNH 8 in New Haven, Connecticut, she earned multiple Emmy nominations and journalism awards for her documentaries. She also served as public affairs director for the station before she became the state communications director for one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the country.
While Lisa’s background includes marketing, media relations, and public relations, these days she is a freelance writer and owner of Over the Moon Vintage, an online collectibles shop. Lisa’s parents were members of the Greatest Generation, and her father, Nino Maurizi, was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran. She attributes this to her interest in the war and the loving relationships that developed during that period in our history. Lisa and her husband, Joe, live in Connecticut and are the proud parents of their sixth rescue dog, Maggie.
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