Digital Extra: The Journal's 175th Anniversary

07.21.2004

1946. Love knows no boundaries for GI and fiancee

She was a typist at a supply depot in Middletown; he was a civilian truck driver for the Navy. Then he was inducted and their romance was stretched across the sea.

Under the headline, "Love Laughs at distance," The Journal reported on the long-distance engagement of Pfc. Robert Breault and Helen M. Lowney on Oct. 1, 1946:

"GI's $64 Phone Call from Tokyo wins Fiancee from Middletown."

"It took three minutes and $64 for a Fall River G.I. in Tokyo to win a 'yes' by trans-Pacific telephone this weekend from his Middletown sweetheart.

" 'Hi ya, honey, still love me?' he queried. When she said 'yes' he went on to say, 'There's a bunch of reporters at my elbow, I'm nervous.'

"Then he asked her if she would marry him. 'Yes,' Helen replied. In that 3-minute conversation she told him she was going to make the Japanese silk he had sent home into a wedding gown."

In today's money, that call would cost $600.