BAND OF GOLD
JERRY AND NANCY GLEESING, A FEW DAYS AFTER THEIR WEDDING.
There’s a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere
— PAUL ROBERTS & SHELBY DARNELL, 1942
The thin gold ring on Jerry Gleesing’s finger isn’t flashy, but he wouldn’t trade it for a diamond-studded platinum band. It’s rested on that finger since his bride, Nancy, placed it there on June 1, 1944.
It hadn’t been easy to win her hand, or even get her to glance his way. In 1940, Jerry heard a new girl had moved to his hometown of LaMoure, North Dakota, and he kept his eyes peeled. There wasn’t much excitement in the small town, so the arrival of a young lady was big news. Jerry first spotted her on his way to the ballpark on a Sunday afternoon. Her dark hair and dimples captivated him.
“I was 15,” Gleesing recalled. “Quite a bit older than she—I was born in August, Nancy in September.” Alas, his status of older man by a month failed to impress the new girl. “She didn’t even speak to me for the first six months,” he said, shaking his head. “She was a lot smarter than I thought she was.” But Jerry was smitten and persistent. By their senior year, they were an “item.” Nancy recalled their first date with a smile. “He brought me violets.”
In fact, one of their dates became legendary at their small school. “We skipped school one day and had our pictures taken,” Nancy said. “We got caught.” As a result, when the entire school went on a field trip, Jerry and Nancy were the only two left behind. They didn’t mind. Years later at a high school reunion, the day Nancy and Jerry skipped school was still a hot topic.
In 1942, Jerry, 18, enlisted in the Army Air Force and left for basic training. Though she missed him, Nancy shrugged and said, “I knew it was something he had to do.” While he went through basic training and then on to flight school, she joined the Army Nurses Corps and served for six months.
“We got married when I got my wings,” Jerry recalled. They used his two-week leave for a honeymoon. Soon their first child was on the way. While the war raged in Europe, the couple took comfort in dreaming about their baby. They were sure it would be a son. “We were having Michael,” Nancy said, as she remembered that time.
All too quickly, Jerry received orders to deploy to Italy as a flight officer with the15th Air Force, 459th Bomb Group. He had to leave his wife and unborn child behind. “It was hard,” Nancy admitted. Those three words can’t begin to convey the sadness she felt when she kissed him goodbye.
In Europe, things didn’t go well for her husband. On Jan. 15, 1945, Jerry said, “I was shot down on my second mission. We nursed the plane along until we got to Hungary.” He and his crew had to bail out. Jerry laughed, describing the novelty of his situation. “We never learned how to bail out, just how to fly the plane!”
FLYBOY JERRY GLEESING, 1943.
He got out of his chute and ran for the trees. “I just had a few seconds to decide how I was going to elude capture.” That wasn’t enough time. Within minutes he and his crew were surrounded by locals armed with pickaxes and shovels. “I thought they were going to kill us,” he said. But instead they quickly handed the captives over to the Germans.
JERRY GLEESING’S FLIGHT CREW, DECEMBER 1944.
Jerry back row, second from left.
Jerry will never forget that first night of captivity. “They lined us up on one side of the courtyard. Five German soldiers with guns stood opposite—you didn’t know whether they were going to use those guns.” He paused and cleared his throat before continuing the story. “I did pray. I prayed for Michael,” he said referring to his unborn child.
Meanwhile, back in North Dakota, Nancy grew worried. “The letters stopped on January 5,” she said. For 10 days there was no word. Then a telegram arrived, reporting Jerry as missing in action. She prepared for their child’s birth, not knowing her husband’s fate.
Jerry had been taken to a prison camp, and as he was being processed, the guard pointed to his wedding ring and motioned for Jerry to remove it. But after days of uncertainty and fear, that was where Jerry drew the line. “You get to the point where the initial fear is gone,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens. I didn’t give up my wedding ring. I said, ‘I vowed to never take it off. I’m not taking it off.’” The guard stared at him and motioned again for the ring. Jerry simply shook his head. “They let me keep it,” he said.
In February 1945 Nancy gave birth to a daughter. “Turns out it wasn’t Michael, it was Mary Jean,” she said, smiling. In those days babies were taken from their mothers and cared for in the hospital nursery. “I guess I did a little bit of crying,” Nancy admitted. The doctor admonished the nurses, “Don’t you read the newspaper? Her husband is MIA. You give her that baby any time she wants.” So Nancy cuddled her daughter and whispered to her about her brave and handsome father. She promised her baby that Daddy would be home soon.
After three and a half months as a prisoner of war, Jerry’s camp at Mooseburg, Germany was liberated. “We saw the tanks come over the hill,” he recalled. “Everyone was whooping and hollering. Then the American flag was raised, and it was dead silent.” His voice broke. “It was like coming home.” And come home he did, just in time to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. He was asked if he’d like to continue his military service. “They asked me if I wanted to stay in or get out. It took half a second to say ‘out,’” he recalled. So instead, he used the GI Bill and graduated from North Dakota State University. He taught agricultural education at a local high school for several years. Then he moved on to a career with a commercial agriculture firm.
Jerry and Nancy raised seven children and were active in their local Catholic parish. Yet the Gleesings would be the first to tell you the course of their true love has had its share ofturbulence. As they talked about their six decades together, they debated details, times and places. “We argue a lot for some reason,” Jerry said. And across the room Nancy stuck her tongue out at him.
JERRY GLEESING 3 DAYS AFTER HIS WEDDING, 1944.
But though they may squabble, the vows they took all those years ago hold firm. “There’s something about a commitment,” said Jerry. He looked down at his left hand. The sun glinted off the narrow gold band. “It’s still there,” he said. “I’ve never taken it off.”
LOVE LESSON
“Some days it feels like it all went too fast.”—Jerry Gleesing
JERRY AND NANCY GLEESING 2010.
Photo courtesy Bart Rayniak, Spokesman Review
Jerry Gleesing died April 25, 2010. Nancy now wears his ring on a chain around her neck.