US

Stories We Tell: Jeannie Puckett

(Installment 2 of 14)

Collected and arranged by

Amy Uptgraft

Edited by

Audra Edwards

“I never remember Ralph outright asking me to marry him. What I do remember is sitting in the car in front of my house as he began to tell me all the reasons that I should NOT marry him. He started with the fact that he would be taking me away from my family, away from all my friends. He added that he would probably be leaving me to go to another war, where he might be killed in action. I might have to handle everything myself, take care of any children we might have, and I would never have as much money as my other friends. The list went on and on, covering all the hardships that military life would bring if I married him.

Meanwhile, I was shaking my head and telling him, ‘Yes, yes, that does not matter. I love you and will follow you anywhere you take me!’ So Ralph and his mother went to Atlanta and selected a beautiful diamond engagement ring and matching wedding band. The ring was sent by mail to my parent’s post office box, where I had to go pick it up and sign for it. Ralph was out in the field and could never get to the post office when it was open. I had to pick it up myself. I then brought the box home, and it sat unopened for three or four days until Ralph could return from training in Dahlonega, Georgia. Then, he finally put the ring on my finger. My father said that I had sat on the box like a bird on a nest!

Little did I realize that he was gently removing the “silver spoon” from my mouth and offering me instead a stainless steel one with US engraved on the handle. How tender—US against the world! Later, I learned that the US stood for United States, and the spoon was a government-issued spoon for soldiers as part of their mess kit. As they used to say in the Army, ‘If the Army wanted you to have a wife, they would issue you one.’ I actually think I knew a lot more about what I was getting myself into when we got married than he did. Looking back, he would agree, saying, ‘I never realized how much I was asking of you – to be a military spouse.’”

Reflections from Amy:

Can any of us really ever know what is being asked of us, I wonder? Would we do it all over again if we knew about all the lonely nights, panic at the doorbell chimes, silent tears pointing the minivan down the interstate yet another time? We would. And how could we blame the Ralphs, or Jamies or Ricks for not knowing? How could they know? How could any of us know? 

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