Females Were Bystanders
Peggy expressed during the conversation how she dreaded his call-up. Peggy talked about how the wives were kept in a motel, while their husbands were being held at Tallahassee. The wives received orders from the hotel not to tell anyone, even their closest relatives, about their husbands’ whereabouts. Peggy followed the example of the other women and said goodbye to her man and hoped he would arrive safely. Billie and Peggy only recently realized that their marriage lasted only six weeks. It was a wonderful but brief time in their lives.
Secrets – Sworn to Secrecy
After returning to their homes, they went on with their daily lives and kept the secrets that were expected of them. They began to hear one by one, as time went on, that their loved one had safely arrived. Peggy received this information as one of the final bits. She never got any more information or intelligence about her husband during the war. Lieutenant Billie Harris had disappeared without a trace and his faithful wife did not know where he was. In the army there were many problems with management and bureaucracy, which led to information being miscommunicated or misplaced.
