By the time Betty R. Neumeyer graduated from Yakima Senior High School (now Davis High School) in 1944, there weren't many boys left in her senior class.
Most of them were serving in the war.
"We were all frightened," said Neumeyer, now 81. "We were all young and green. We didn't know much about the war."
She worried most about Danny Turlington, her boyfriend of several years. She met the 20-year-old from Tacoma while picking peaches at her father's orchard in 1941. She was 15.
The age difference didn't faze the two. They were inseparable after several dates. But that ended a few months later when Turlington enlisted in the Army Air Forces and was sent to fight in Europe.
She ended her daily journal entries with the same words: "I love my darling and I pray the Lord will bring him back safely."
But despite her worry, she remained focused on the war effort.
Like other Americans, her family learned to deal with rations on food, gas, nylons and other staples. The lack of nylon stockings was especially tough for Neumeyer, who had to wear them while working in several clothing shops. But she knew it was for the greater good.
"We had to hold (it) together or fall apart," she said.
Keeping it together at home, she said, was important in providing support to the soldiers who were abroad and those stationed nearby at the old Ahtanum Camp, where the Ahtanum Youth Park stands today. The camp had housed migrant farm workers, but during the war, it was home to soldiers who were stationed in Yakima for training. Every Sunday, Neumeyer and her brother Louis would drive to the camp and invite a few soldiers for dinner at their home on 10th Avenue between Washington and Mead avenues. After dinner, the family and the soldiers would play a pickup game of baseball in the pasture behind their home.
Neumeyer still keeps a wartime photo album, which is worn from many years of use. In it are many photos of Neumeyer taken with a variety of servicemen.
Don't get the wrong idea.
She only had one true love at the time -- he was serving in Europe with the Army Air Forces.
But during the war, she and her friends went on dates with servicemen stationed in Yakima. They biked to the airport to ride alongside the soldiers marching. They allowed them to take them roller skating or to watch a movie.
But these dates were friendly, not romantic. There was no necking, to use the old term, but physical affection was OK. The girls' goal was to show their support.
"They missed the closeness of being with a girl," she said. "They were tired of men, men, men. They wanted to feel they were at home. They missed their mothers, (girlfriends) and sisters."
When the servicemen moved on, they would keep in touch through letters and photographs. Neumeyer still has letters and other mementos from the 23 servicemen she kept in touch with.
She, of course, kept in touch with Turlington. He sent her handkerchiefs embroidered by nuns in Corsica, where he was stationed; she sent with him a photo in a heavy cardboard frame so Turlington would have a picture of her with him.
When he returned in February 1945, the couple were engaged. They wed just 18 days later, on March 11, 1945. But the honeymoon ended quickly; he was immediately shipped back to the war.
Turlington returned to Yakima safely a few months later. But the marriage did not last and the couple separated a few years later. They remained friends and she attended his funeral when he died a few years ago.
She has accepted that ultimate separation with her first husband as much as the one she had when he was fighting in the war.
Her experience on the home front taught her to remain strong, even in the face of uncertainty.
"It made me a lot more acceptable to things you can't control," she said. "You learn to go with the flow."
* Mai Hoang can be reached at 577-7685 or mhoang@yakimaherald.com.
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