Bringing Freedom, They Found Love

Harold Yeglin, 97^th Infantry Division

I know from personal experience about the grand welcome Pilsen gives the veterans. I was there in 1990, 1991, 1995, 2000 and 2005. Sadly, however, I was not able to attend the 65th celebration in 2010, because of the death of my wife.

My wife was Miloslava (Milka) Yeglin, a native of the village of Štěnovice, just south of Pilsen. In January 2010, we celebrated her 82^nd birthday. In 1946, a young Miloslava Vildová married an American veteran of the liberating 2nd Infantry Division and came to live in the USA. She returned several times, while Czechoslovakia was still under communism, to visit her parents and two brothers in Štěnovice, Pilsen, and Starý Plzenec.

Milka and I met for the first time at the 1990 celebration. We were both widowed. A year later, we were married in Roanoke, Virginia and a week after that, we were both in Pilsen for the 1991 Liberation Celebration.

Milka died in February 2010.

From book 500 hours to victory