My parents met during WWII while both were serving at the U.S. Navy Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Mom was a Navy Nurse and Dad was a Pharmacist’s Mate, so Mom out-ranked Dad.

Dad’s name was Clarence Palmer Harrison (nickname Tony) and was from Charlotte, NC. Mom’s name was Charlotte Agnew and was from Kingtson, PA.  So they had “Charlotte” in common...

After the war they moved to Charlotte and enjoyed a great life together. They both are now resting peacefully at the National Military Cemetery in Salisbury, NC where they share a common tombstone.  I’m not sure why Mom’s military service is not noted on her side of the gravestone, I’m investigating (it could be because I think Mom had to resign her commission to get married).

Some family side stories:

Dad caught tuberculosis at some point and was in a Navy hospital as a patient on his birthday (VE day) August 14, 1945.

On that day one of WWII's famous pin-up girls, Betty Grable (whose legs were insured for $1M) was touring the hospital and sat down on dad's bed and talked with him for a bit.  My dad loved people and could talk with anyone.

I'm not sure where my future Mom was at the time :-)

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Wanting to follow the footsteps of his older brother James, Tony volunteered for the Army Air Corps before graduating high school in 1943 (a picture of his application is below).  He was told the Army Air Corps already had all the volunteers it needed, so Dad joined the Navy instead.  And because his father was a pharmacist and Dad had worked with his father in the pharmacy, Dad was made a Pharmacist’s Mate (Hospital Apprentice).

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Mom and Dad didn’t go overseas but Dad trained with a number of Navy Corpsmen who served and distinguished themselves on Iwo Jima.  One of these sent Dad a Japanese rifle and bayonet from Iwo Jima which stayed in my parent’s closet for 50+ years until one day Dad received a telephone call from his buddy who said he wanted to come visit.  During the visit Dad gave him back “his” rifle.  It had a wooden butt plate (not metal) and the story was that at that point in the war the Japanese were running out of metal.

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My mother’s brother Charles Agnew joined the Army Air Corp a year or two before WWII broke out (to get away from coal mining in Pennsylvania) and was stationed at Hickam Field in Hawaii on December 7th, 1941.  I asked uncle Charles about what he remembered about that day and he said his strongest memory was of hundreds of guys running around either naked or with white skivvies on trying to find something to shoot back with.