The Pittsburgh Press (February 25, 1944)
Millett: Appreciated
War separations binds weakening ties
By Ruth Millett
There is a lot of pessimistic talk about war marriages and how many of them are going to be followed by divorce when the war is over.
But there is nothing much said about the marriages that are actually being strengthened by the war. And there must be thousands of husbands and wives such as Bill and Mary, married for three, four and maybe 10 years, who are learning from separation just how important their marriages.
It wasn’t that Mary and Bill were no longer in love when the war came along.
They still loved each other. But they had grown so used to what they had, so sure of security and of each other, they were on the verge of becoming bored with the whole idea.
And then the war came along and separated them, and it didn’t take long for both to realize that their marriage and the way of life they had built together was the most important thing they had.
And it didn’t take long for them to find out just how much each depended on the other for companionship and understanding, and how unsatisfactory freedom is once you’ve become used to being both dependent and depended upon.
Bill and Mary will go back into marriage with a new appreciation for each other and for their way of life, and it isn’t likely that anything ever will make either of them consider a divorce.
So, while the post-war world may see many hasty war marriages ending in divorce, as the experts predict, there are sure to be many marriages that never get anywhere near the divorce courts simply because the war has showed the husbands and wives just how important their marriages really are.