I eventually went to the market and met Frieda and her daughter, Belinda. I was happy to learn that Belinda was not too young and I guess I wasn’t too short after all. My visits increased in frequency and soon I was spending my free evenings there as well. Our first date was to the Knob Creek Range. Belinda enjoyed pistol shooting and was good at it. I was pretty much hooked. The time passed all too quickly and I knew that I would not be leaving Fort Knox without her. We discussed this in the moonlight by the Ohio River and we both agreed that marriage was the thing for us. The sticking point was that I had orders for Ranger School and then on to Germany for my first assignment. Belinda was heavily involved with her Mother’s business and did not want to leave her hanging. What to do?
I contacted my Branch Manager to request a change in my orders. He instructed me that I could only get a change if I could find another Lieutenant to swap assignments. There were two stipulations. First, the swap would only be allowed if I was married, Branch would not entertain the action for a Fiance’e or Girlfriend. Second, I had to swap with another West Point Officer. Apparently, the Academy fought for certain assignments and once allocated they needed to filled by a USMA Grad. I figured Germany was a much better assignment than Fort Knox and there had to be someone to make the trade. I asked around and put up an ad in the mailroom students used. As it turned out, there was a classmate who had requested Fort Knox to be near his girlfriend. They had broken up so he was now happy to accept my offer. Now all I had to do was get married.
I was running out of time and had to work around the requirements of the Armor School. My Class was set to graduate on 10 October (coincidently my birthday) and I had to report to Harmony Church, Georgia by 14 October. I checked with the Student Company and was assured that there were no more requirements after graduation. With that I planned a wedding for 11 October. I set things up with the Catholic Chaplain for a church wedding, got the marriage license (to include mandatory blood testing for STDs), and informed my Parents. They were somewhat surprised but wanted to attend the ceremony. They left from upstate NY on an automobile tour, to arrive before the appointed date. In the days before cell phones, it was like they went behind the dark side of the moon, there would be no contact until they arrived.
As the days wound down, I was informed that contrary to previous declaration, there actually was a requirement on the wedding date. Those headed to Ranger School were to spend that Saturday demonstrating ability in prerequisite tasks. These included map and compass work and for some reason donning a protective mask and moving through an area seeded with tear gas. I approached the the First Lieutenant Company Commander to discuss my dilemma and why I had earlier been given erroneous information. His only response was that I should “get married during the lunch hour”. Certainly a well informed and caring individual! Luckily I did not follow his advice as lunch that day consisted of a short break for a C-Ration near the tear gas area.
Frieda came up with the solution to my problem. She knew of a Justice of the Peace, Judge Tabb in nearby Elizabethtown. The Judge was a local marrying institution and would able to get the job done on short notice. Frieda made all the arrangements. She advised me that the fee was $20. I was to palm the money to the Judge upon the completion of the ceremony to avoid the crassness of publicly paying him off.
A B-4 Company Mate, Steve, agreed to be my Best Man. He had met Belinda before and had nice things to say about her. Steve contacted other Buffaloes who also attended. I recall Bob and his new wife, Cheryl, were present. Kent and Fran travelled from Fort Benning. Frieda and her Ex-Husband, Donald, also came. When we arrived at the Judge’s house he was surprised and certainly not expecting us. Nevertheless, he let us in and agreed to perform the ritual. Turns out the Judge was no longer active on the bench, his title being honorary. He was still able to perform official matrimony due to his status as an evangelist. Seems that by declaring himself a man of god and sending in a nominal fee, the Commonwealth of Kentucky authorized him this power.
Belinda and I drove separately so I wouldn’t jinx things by seeing the Bride before the wedding. When I started my car, the song “Another One Bites the Dust” began playing on the radio. I hoped it was not a bad omen. We all arrived at the Judge’s house where the action was to take place. The Judge was nice enough but not too with it. He showed us a record book of all the marriages he had performed over the years; there were hundreds. The Judge had served in World War One and launched upon his life story. He made it clear that we soldiers of the current Army were entirely too soft. For about an hour we listened to the Judge as he rambled on. I did not want to offend him and get thrown out so we all endured his stories. A break occurred at the mid-point when a dog started barking in the back. This was soon followed by an older man coming through the front and barging through the wedding party. The man was dressed in checked wool hunting clothing and had a double barreled shotgun over his shoulder. He shared the house with the Judge and passed through to his area, apparently having just returned from a hunting endeavor with the dog.
My friends were all giving me a “do something!” look so I finally said “This is all very interesting your Honor, but do you think you could get on with the wedding?” The Judge was a bit put out but began the ceremony. It was short with the standard vows. After that was done, the Judge forgot what he had completed so he did the vows over again. Finally it was over-almost. The last hurdle was completion of the marriage certificate and delivering it to the county for recording. This was supposed to be completed by the officiating individual. When I gave the license to the Judge he blew a fuse. He irately insisted that all the information was supposed to have been completed by the issuing clerk and he wasn’t going to. I was at a loss over what to do. At that point, Cheryl stepped up with a firm “give me that!” She completed all necessary information and handed it to the Judge with a “sign here.” The signature was a shaky scribble, revealing the previous reluctance. It was not in the poor old guy’s capability to fill out the form. All he had to do now was send in the receipt and we were good to go. I offered to do this but was told it had to come from him. At that point I realized the importance of witnesses, should something go awry with the paperwork.
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