War Veteran Ends His 70-Year Long Journey Of Finding His Lost Love With A Wonderful Reunion

They say that first love never dies. And for a certain Korean War veteran, he never forgot his first love even after 70 years of being apart, separated by some drama-like circumstances.

Duane Mann, 91, was first stationed in Japan in 1953-1954 as a Navy personnel and he was able to work during his spare time as a slot machine repairman in an Air Force NCO club in the area where he was stationed. It was in the club that he met Peggy Yamaguchi, who was working as a hat-check girl, and his first love.

They used to spend a lot of time together and dance during their break time at work, he said. “We could dance very well together and entertained a lot people looking on,” Duane said in his Facebook post.

They were planning on getting married as soon as they could before Duane gets discharged, but Duane was suddenly shipped back to the US 2 months earlier than what was originally scheduled. He received his notice of discharge just a week before he got shipped off. Everything happened suddenly and they could do nothing about it and Duane said that they were just trapped.

“I’m in love with this girl, and I’m not gonna leave her,” Duane said, thinking back on his memories with Penny, back when he was still 22 years old. Duane promised Peggy that he would send for her as soon as he could with the reassurance that he had enough money saved in his bank account once he gets officially discharged.

Now this is where the drama-like circumstances come into play. When Duane got back to his hometown of Iowa, he found out that his father, said to have fallen on hard times, spent Duane’s savings. So he was left with nothing to use for the woman he wanted to marry.

He quickly devised a plan to save up again and wrote to Peggy to explain what happened. Unfortunately for the young couple, it seems that Duane’s mother disapproved of their plans. Duane and Peggy wrote letters to one another but Peggy’s letters suddenly stopped coming. Duane eventually discovered that it was his mother’s doing, that his mother was burning Peggy’s letter as his mother didn’t want him to marry a Japanese girl, he said.

All of this happened in the early ‘50s and now, still, Duane holds a place in his heart for his first love. Duane asked for help in finding Peggy in a long post on Facebook and news spread fast and people have been leaving comments trying to help him identify and track down his lost love.

“I’ve had a great life and I’ve been blessed a lot. But I’ve just got that one thing that’s really stuck with me. I just had that one regret,” Duane said in an interview.

After 70 long years, mostly with the help from Duane and Peggy’s children and a young researcher for the History Channel, they finally found each other.

Turns out, Peggy wasn’t in Japan. She was just in Michigan, 650 miles away from where Duane currently resides in Iowa. Understandably, Peggy’s children were skeptical when they first got contacted by journalists asking them questions like if Peggy Yamaguchi was their mother. They thought it was some kind of scam.

Peggy’s eldest son, Rich Sedenquist, took the news clip of Duane’s story to his mother. Rich said, “I took my Bluetooth headphones over there, brought your video clip and I played it and she right away said, ‘I remember him. He really loved me.'”

The lovely reunion happened inside a conference room at the Island Resort and Casino in Michigan. And the moment was truly precious to watch, it was like they weren’t separated for 70 years in the way that they first acted with each other.

“I was scared at first. I thought my mother and Duane wouldn’t talk like they did, but when they started smiling and talking it was all worth it. It was all worth it for me,” Rich Sedenquist said.

Duane’s son, Brian Mann, said that his dad was always a great example for them. “It’s a great example as my dad has always been. Follow your heart, be a kind person and not be afraid to take a step other people won’t. It’s authentic to me,” he said.

The reunion just feels warm to me. For Duane, he was able to let out his feelings of guilt for having ‘abandoned’ Peggy. But I don’t think he’s at fault here. So many factors worked against their union but he held on to his hope of finding Peggy, or any of her relatives, and making things right. For Peggy, I think it’s enough evidence for her when she was told that Duane has kept her pictures close to him all these years, for her to know that Duane had truly loved her.

“I’m here to tell you that I didn’t abandon you at all. I just couldn’t find you,” Duane told Peggy.

Watch their reunion in the video below.