A young man and a young woman brought together by war. A love that begins at the first dance, if not at first sight… One misfortune after another… And a surprising reunion 70 years later… When you read it like this, you think, “This must be a movie script,” but it’s not. Here is a human story that you will not be able to control your emotions while reading…
The young woman first attracted Duane Mann’s attention with her impressive moves on the dance floor. Then came her smile and sense of humor that reflected her intelligence. Mann had never seen anyone like her before.
It was 1953 and the Korean War was in its final throes. Mann, 22, a Marine from Iowa, was part of the US forces stationed in Japan. He first managed an air supply depot in Yokosuka and then was transferred to an air base in Tokyo. And as fate would have it, he fell in love with a woman he met hundreds of kilometers from home.
- PlayStation 5 Slim, just a phone thick, wows
- 58 percent of Americans blame Trump for January 6 Congressional raid
- What scenarios are being discussed with Macron losing the majority
The young woman, Peggy Yamaguchi, was perfect in Mann’s eyes. Mann, now 91, said, “She was a very beautiful girl, very sensitive and kind. We had a lot of fun together,” Mann said of Yamaguchi. But the day came when Mann had to leave Japan. What happened afterward would make even the saddest love movies look like a movie.
IT ALL STARTED WITH A DANCE
Mann and Yamaguchi first met in an officers’ mess. Yamaguchi was a cloakroom attendant. Mann worked as a mechanic and security guard in his spare time. Yamaguchi had taken English classes in the past and was acting as a translator between the locals and the American soldiers.
There was a live band that often performed at the officers’ quarters. “One evening after work, Peggy and I started dancing,” Mann said.
“That’s when everything happened. In Mann’s words, “Oh my God! She was dancing so beautifully”.
They started seeing each other every day. Most days they stayed on the floor until everyone in the officers’ quarters had left, dancing for hours to songs by Elvis Presley and Tony Bennett, which were very popular in those years.
Mann says, “People would stand aside and watch us. Every moment I held her in my arms, I fell in love a little more.”
WAR OVER, MANN SENT HOME
But this relationship, the envy of everyone, ended abruptly a year later. Because the end of Mann’s tour of duty was brought forward and the young man was sent back to the United States in a hurry.
“The Korean War was over, the army was overcrowded. They started demobilizing people early to cut costs,” Mann explained the reasoning behind the US Navy’s decision.
At the time, Yamaguchi was 22 years old and carrying Mann’s baby.
The young couple came up with a plan. Mann would return to Iowa, take the money he had saved in his bank account there and go back to Tokyo. He would then use this money to bring his lover to the United States.
“My intention was to marry her,” Mann said.
But when he arrived at his home in Pisgah, Iowa, Mann was in for a big surprise. His father had spent all the money in his account. Obviously Mann had made the mistake of thinking, “If I die in the war…” and had put his father on the account.
“Not a dime was left,” Mann told the Washington Post: “If I had known I didn’t have any money, I never would have come home.”
MANN’S MOTHER INTERVENED
On the one hand, Mann was trying to find a solution to the situation, and on the other, the two lovers were trying to maintain their relationship by writing letters to each other. Mann started working on a highway construction site because it was the most lucrative job he could find at the time.
After a month of exchanging letters, Yamaguchi stopped answering Mann. Mann learned the reason for this much later: His mother took his letters out of the mail and burned them before he received them because she did not approve of his relationship with Yamaguchi. “She didn’t want me to marry a Japanese girl,” Mann said.
Mann’s sister took one last letter from Yamaguchi and delivered it to his brother without his mother noticing. But this letter brought Mann’s world crashing down around him. Yamaguchi had lost her baby and had married a US Air Force officer from Wisconsin. “I was devastated,” Mann said of her state of mind when she read those lines.
A very strong sense of guilt was growing inside the young man. And that feeling did not give Mann peace for 70 years. “I was worried that she would think I had abandoned her,” Mann said.
CARRIED HIS PHOTOS IN HIS WALLET FOR 70 YEARS
In the following years Mann founded a successful agricultural products company, married twice and had six children. But Yamaguchi was never far from his mind.
Mann, now a widower, has always carried two photographs of Yamaguchi in his wallet. He even made attempts to reach Yamaguchi from time to time, but his efforts were always in vain. “I wanted her to know I hadn’t left her,” Mann said.
Mann made a Facebook post on May 1 as a last-ditch effort to find Yamaguchi. He posted a photo of Yamaguchi and told the whole story, saying he was “so sorry for everything that happened.”
Friends, complete strangers and internet sleuths got involved with various suggestions. Then a local news station, KETV7, covered the case and helped Mann’s call to a wider audience.
MANN’S VOICE WAS HEARD IN CANADA
So much so that Mann’s ordeal even caught the attention of a young woman living in Vancouver.
Theresa Wong, 23, who works for the History Channel, said: “I couldn’t get what I was seeing out of my mind. It was clear that Duane had been searching for almost 70 years for closure. I can’t even imagine how much weight that would put on a person.”
Wong decided to join the search efforts and was lucky. “I found her name, the names of her relatives, the pieces soon came together,” said Wong, who first searched for “Peggy Yamaguchi” on newspapers.com. Hoping to find a wedding announcement, she realized she was on the right track when she saw the headline “Tokyo Bride Satisfied with Life in Escanaba.”
Wong shared his findings with KETV7. The station’s reporters soon found Yamaguchi’s married name and the address where she lived in Michigan. A reporter contacted Yamaguchi’s son, Rich Sedenquist.
Sedenquist, 66, was a little shocked to see the message from the reporter. But his mother, Peggy Yamaguchi, showed Sedenquist photos of Mann when he was young. When she saw the photos, she recognized Mann.
IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY WHEN THEY WERE DANCING
Yamaguchi Sedenquist told the Washington Post that she had buried her memories of Mann deeply, but when she saw the photos, she suddenly felt like the young woman on the dance floor. The 91-year-old described her then-boyfriend as “handsome, tall and very honest.”
Learning that Mann was looking for her came as a big surprise to Yamaguchi Sedenquist, a mother of three who still lives in Escanaba with her husband, whom she married in 1955. Moreover, contrary to Mann’s concerns, Yamaguchi Sedenquist said that she had no negative feelings toward her former lover, “I had a hard time after he left Japan. But he was a soldier, and he left when he had to leave.”
Upon learning that Yamaguchi Sedenquist was alive, Mann made up his mind to meet face to face. Mann was accompanied on this journey by his eldest son Brian, 63.
Brian and his siblings had grown up with stories of their father’s lost love many years ago. They were therefore supportive of Mann’s desire to be reunited with Yamaguchi Sedenquist.
“WILL HE LET ME HUG HIM?”
The father and son made the 14-hour drive from Iowa to Michigan for the June 1 meeting. During the drive, Mann was in a state of excitement. “Do you think he’ll let me hug him?” he asked his son timidly.
But the moment Yamaguchi saw Sedenquist, he realized that all his worries were for nothing. “He stood up and hugged me and kissed me on the cheek several times,” Mann said.
The first thing Yamaguchi Sedenquist said to Mann was, “Do you remember dancing?”
They reminisced for hours. Mann was surprised to learn that Yamaguchi Sedenquist’s eldest son’s name was Mike Duane Sedenquist.
“It was a really exciting event,” said Mann, who now lives in Woodbine, Iowa. “It was a very special experience,” Yamaguchi Sedenquist said, adding that he convinced Mann that he did not feel abandoned.
OH IF WE COULD HAVE ONE LAST DANCE…
The families of the duo also met and had a very pleasant time together.
Brian Mann said, “I had some expectations of what it would be like, but it went beyond what I thought it would be,” while Rich Sedenquist said, “It was great. They are very nice people.”
“I hope I live another year or two so I can get to know them better,” Mann said, adding that he wished more than anything that he could tell Yamaguchi Sedenquist the truth. He added that after 70 years he had achieved this wish and was at peace:
“I would still be very happy to dance with him again, even just once.”
compiled from The Washington Post article titled (Torn from his first love in the Korean War, strangers just helped them reunite).
