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" In a recent issue, REDBOOK asked readers to tell us their love stories, and you delivered, big time. This sweet tale is one of our 10 favorites. Get some tissues and read on!  In 1945, at the end of World War II, I was living in Bournemoth, England, training in a hospital to be a boarding school matron. I had afternoons free, so one day I went down to the seafront and sat reading in a disused gun emplacement. It started to rain, and I heard a voice with an American accent offer me a share of his raincoat.  I looked up and saw a very tall, very thin American officer. We started talking, and he told me he had just been released from Stalag Luft 1, a P.O.W. camp in Germany, and was waiting to return to the States. He then asked me if I&amp;#039;d like to have dinner with him, and I agreed.  We went to a little place called the Swiss Cottage. We sat down, looked at the menu, and then he said, &amp;quot;Oh, I don&amp;#039;t have any money!&amp;quot; I thought, oh these Yanks! He was so apologetic that I said I&amp;#039;d pay, and we had the cheapest thing on the menu, omelettes, as I had very little money too. He asked if we could see me again, so warily, I agreed.  He met me the next day as I came off shift and repaid me, and from then on we saw each other every day for three weeks. We talked a lot about family, but never about his war experiences. He was a B24 pilot and had been shot down over Italy. He was shipped home at the end of the three weeks, and we exchanged addresses, but I really didn&amp;#039;t expect to hear from him again. A couple of months later, I had a letter! We wrote for three years, and then he wrote to my father, asking his permission to marry me. My father agreed that he should come back to England, and then we&amp;#039;d see. A month after he returned, we were married. We had 48 wonderful years together, and four wonderful children who followed him into the service. He stayed in the Air Force, so I was an &amp;quot;Air Force wife&amp;quot; for 25 years. I had babies in Japan and Turkey, and lived in every part of the States: North, South, East, and West. He died 20 years ago of a rare brain cancer, but I think of him every day.  Our love story winners won a date night out: a $25 gift card to Fandango, where you can watch movie trailers, check showtimes, and buy tickets; and a $50 gift card to use either at Olive Garden, which serves fresh Italian food ranging from pasta classics to lighter fare, or LongHorn Steakhouse, which offers a wide variety of fresh, never frozen steaks. Also, from July 3 through 6, you can call 855-LH-GRILL to get grilling tips from a certified LongHorn Steakhouse Grill Master. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/love-sex/relationships/a6933/gillian-paterson-love-story/>