In April 2019, the At Home Care team was able to interview some of the friends, clients, and caregivers that make the Flint Hills of Kansas the wonderful place it is! Here is one of the stories…
This is Part 2 of a three part series about twenty-six year Army veteran Bob and his lovely wife, Asako. To learn where Bob served during World War 2, click here.
Just like any man in love, Bob would rather talk about his wife of sixty-three years than the months he spent in Germany. “The feeling is difficult to explain,” he says of his first firefight on Christmas Eve 1944. After a short pause, he continues, “But I decided I might as well stay in the service.”
So he did and, several years after that eventful Christmas Eve, ended up on the opposite side of the world in Asia. Bob worked as a bouncer at the NCO club in Japan and that’s where he first saw Asako. As a cashier, she sat across from him every night and, for Bob, it was love at first sight.
Bob takes Asako’s hand. “I looked at her and she was so beautiful.” She looks back at him now, her smile lighting up the space between them. Asako is a tiny lady. She suffers from dementia and is in full time care, but after sixty-three years, Bob still calls her “my best friend.”
“She turned me down at first,” Bob continues. In fact, Asako turned him down several times before the persistent young soldier finally secured her consent to go on a date with him.
They were married in Japan by the American consulate. “My family was very against it,” Bob says, but quickly adds, “Until the children came. They changed everything.”
Stay tuned for Part 3 of Bob and Asako’s story.
