Most people hope to find someone special who will love them no matter what. When soulmates meet, it feels like a fairytale love story straight out of the movies. You feel like you’re flying as if nothing could bring you down.
You never want to lose this person who makes you feel so alive.Unfortunately, Duane Mann thought he would never see his soulmate ever again. But after seventy years, the 91-year-old veteran reconnected with his first love by a stroke of fate.Mann grew up on a farm in Iowa and joined the U.S. Navy at 22 years old.
While stationed in Japan during the Korean War, a love story began to unfold with a woman named Peggy Yamaguchi. He didn’t seek romance during his time overseas, but it found him anyway.The couple met at the Air Force NCO Club, where Mann worked on slot machines. Yamaguchi worked as a hat check girl, helping keep track of hats and coats left in the coatroom. They hit it off instantly and wanted to see where the relationship would lead.
Peggy and Duane made some of their fondest memories on the dance floor, where they often had an audience.“We could really dance together…I mean, to where the people would watch us,” Mann told KKTV in an interview.Over time, Mann and Yamaguchi fell head over heels for each other. However, life eventually drove a wedge between them, cutting their romance short. ADVERTISEMENT With a baby on the way, Mann got the unfortunate news that the Navy would soon ship him home. He had no choice but to leave his first love and unborn child in the United States.
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Duane Mann
Peggy Yamaguchi