{"id":23020,"date":"2026-11-01T22:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T22:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=23020"},"modified":"2026-11-01T22:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T22:24:59","slug":"my-college-sweetheart-vanished-during-the-war-55-years-ago-on-my-annual-flight-to-his-memorial-the-captain-suddenly-called-my-name-over-the-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=23020","title":{"rendered":"My college sweetheart vanished during the War 55 years ago \u2014 on my annual flight to his memorial, the captain suddenly called my name over the speaker."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The captain was Gavin Mercer, Patrick\u2019s grandson. Patrick had survived captivity and returned in 1973, then married a nurse who helped him recover. When Gavin brought me to his home, I asked why he had never contacted me. Patrick admitted he had written letters but never mailed them. Worse, he had told his parents I knew he was home and wanted no contact. While I searched for answers, he protected a lie\u2014and built a family.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p>Now widowed and unwell, Patrick hoped we could spend his remaining time together. I wished him comfort, but refused to pretend his silence had cost us equally. At the memorial, I left one final rose and kept our photograph; the happiness we once shared had still been real. Back home, I suggested a seaside holiday with my sister. Later, a plane crossed the sky. This time, I watched it go without sending a kiss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The captain was Gavin Mercer, Patrick\u2019s grandson. Patrick had survived captivity and returned in 1973, then married a nurse who helped him recover. When Gavin <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=23020\" title=\"My college sweetheart vanished during the War 55 years ago \u2014 on my annual flight to his memorial, the captain suddenly called my name over the speaker.\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23022,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23020\/revisions\/23022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}