David Loves Minnie

Men in uniform were a dime a dozen in Halifax during the war years. But for little Minnie Harnish, the meek, blonde daughter of a fisherman, there was only one who counted. He was a big (6 ft. 3 in.) Royal Marine named David Cecil Boyes. Minnie and David met at a party one, night in September 1944, when David had shore leave from H.M.S. Berwick. For Minnie it was love "at first sight." As for David, he loved her "more than the service."

When the Berwick sailed for home a few days after the party, her complement was minus a Royal Marine. Picked up by a shore patrol and shipped home, David has never seen Minnie again. But he has never stopped trying. Once he got back to Halifax as a stowaway on a troopship, but he was caught before he could see Minnie. In three other tries, always as a stowaway, he was caught once in Port Said (he had thought the ship bound for Halifax), twice in Le Havre.

Last week, after his fifth try (this time on the Queen Elizabeth) 20-year-old David was on New York's Ellis Island, waiting to be deported again. And Minnie, now 22, was still waiting, convinced that "he'll make it yet." Said David, threatening to stow away again & again: "I'll never marry anyone else but her."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.