Merle Brann

World War II veteran took a lucky leap of faith. A series of fortunate events gave Merle Elmer Brann the opportunity to meet the love of his life. And unlike Rhett Butler, the dashing rogue of his favorite film Gone With the Wind, he didn’t allow his Scarlett to slip away.

When he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940, a year after graduating from high school, a chance conversation with a friend kept him from a tour of duty in the Philippines, from where very few returned. He finished basic training at Camp Jackson, S.C. (later renamed Fort Jackson) and, as a member of the 20th Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division, participated in the largest peacetime maneuvers in Army history.

Stationed on Kodiak Island, Alaska, he was involved in an automobile accident while on guard duty. His head and shoulder injuries were so severe the doctor assumed he would die and didn’t clean the wound. Fortune smiled yet again—although he remained in the hospital for ten weeks, Mr. Brann fully recovered. Years later, gravel pieces from the road would still appear on his scalp. Offered a medical discharge, he declined, wishing to stay with his men.

Promoted to Staff Sergeant, he was sent to school to receive training in Army Engineering Training School as an instructor to teach camouflage. June, 7, 1945, he met Josephine Agnes Sutton in a Washington, D.C., nightclub and, luckily, they happened to share a bus headed the same direction. They struck up a conversation, and he offered to visit her hometown the next day. Both knew there was something special, but they had little time. His school was ending in less than two weeks. Afterward, he expected to be sent to California. Wednesday, June 12, he mustered up his courage and proposed marriage. “It was the only way we could be together,” she recalls. “So I said ‘yes.’”

One day after school ended—just three weeks after meeting—they wed on June 23 at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Va. Pressed into quick service, most of his groomsmen were fellow members of the Army. And though travel during the war was difficult, most of Josephine’s family attended. He wasn’t Rhett Butler. She wasn’t Scarlett. But, in the end, together they embarked on the greatest of adventures: 65 years of wedded bliss.

In his later years, he struggled with lymphoma and lung cancer. Through it all, he always kept his good humor and sunny disposition, his faith and family ties. He passed away on March 27, 2011, at the age of 89, surrounded by his children and —of course—Josephine. An ending fit for the silver screen.

He is survived by his daughters Carol and husband Thomas Proctor of Belleair, FL, Barbara and husband John Kennedy of Milwaukee, WI and sons Merle Jr. of Richmond, VA, Robert of Severna Park, MD, and Kenneth and wife Julie residing in England. He also leaves twenty grandchildren and twenty-five great grandchildren.

Should friends desire, donations may be made to either LDS Humanitarian Aid at http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services or to Suncoast Hospice at www.thehospicefoundation.org.