Off The Record

Her Husband Disappeared 6 Weeks After They Got Married. 70 Years Later, She Discovered The Shocking Truth

Published on October 7, 2023

Six weeks after Peggy and Billie Harris tied the knot, Billie was sent off to war, cutting short their honeymoon period like so many others of their decade. In July of 1944, World War II finally ended.

Those six weeks were the only days they got to spend together as a married couple.

Billie Harris not only vanished without a trace, but no one had any idea where he went.

Peggy waited for a telegram or a tap on the door, but neither came.

She did pick up tidbits of information, such as that he had gone missing and then, tragically, that he was alive and on his way back home.

In one letter, he said he was buried in a cemetery, but in another, he said that he was buried in a cemetery and that he was buried in a letter.

For years she waited, yet still no conclusive answers came. It’s safe to say she’s never been in love again. She remained exclusively his for the sixty or so years she had no idea where he was.

Peggy told CBS News, “Billie was married to me all his life, and I chose to be married to him all my life.”

Over the course of several decades, Peggy looked for him.

The answers didn’t satisfy her curiosity, but she had to know.

“Those who talk about closure have never been through anything remotely close to what we’re going through now.” As Peggy revealed to CBS.

She wrote to her congressman, who was vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

His statement that the national archives still classify her spouse as “missing in action” came as a shock to her. Subsequent investigations revealed that her representative had not truly verified.