A Korean War Navy veteran who had been looking for the woman he fell in love with nearly 70 years ago has finally found her.
Duane Mann first met Peggy Yamaguchi in 1953, when his unit was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan. Peggy worked as a hat-check girl at an Air Force NCO Club, where the 22-year-old worked as a slot machine repairman.
Sparks flew, and the couple went on to the court for 14 months.
“I really loved to dance and she and I found out we could really dance together, I mean, to where people would watch us. And gradually we fell in love, we couldn’t stop it,” Mann recalled.
However, Mann was suddenly ordered to return to the U.S. two months early. Yamaguchi was pregnant with his child then, and he promised to send for her so they could marry and raise their family together.
But when he returned home, he discovered his father had spent all of his savings, which he had planned to use to bring Yamaguchi to the U.S.
Mann and Yamaguchi exchanged letters on a regular basis until he stopped receiving them after a month. He would later learn that his mother had destroyed Yamaguchi’s letters because she did not want him to marry a Japanese woman.
Mann eventually received one letter from Yamaguchi, in which she revealed that she had miscarried their child and had married another man.
“It was done. That cemented the notion that I had abandoned her. It simply exhausted me. “That is not an honorable act,” he stated.
The veteran carried around his grief and guilt for the rest of his life, fearing that Yamaguchi believed he had neglected her while she was carrying their child.
Last month, Mann’s local news station, KETV NewsWatch 7, broadcast his story, which was shared globally. The Japanese media also ran stories about Mann’s lifelong search for his long-lost love.
Theresa Wong, a 23-year-old Canadian researcher for the History Channel, was moved enough by Mann’s story to launch her own investigation. She came across a 1956 article titled “Tokyo bride enjoys life in Escanaba,” which gave her the last name and an address to work with.
That piece of information eventually led to a lead.
Yamaguchi, 91, had moved to the United States with her Navy husband and lived in Escanaba, Michigan, just a few states away from Mann in Iowa, where she raised three sons.
Her husband is still alive, and her adult sons said the story about their mother’s past moved them.
Following Wong’s tip, reporter Michelle Bandur contacted Yamaguchi’s son, Rich Sedenquist, who showed his mother a video clip of Mann’s search for her.
“She exclaimed, ‘I remember him!'” He really cared about me, you know.'” he explained.
Mike Sedenquist, Mann’s brother, is moved by Mann’s determination to find their mother.
“He’s able to fulfill his dream, his lifelong dream of finding the woman he met and fell in love with, and what a wonderful story!” he exclaimed.
Mike also revealed that his middle name is Duane, realizing he was actually named after his mom’s first love.
The two finally met in a conference room at Escanaba’s Island Resort and Casino. When Mann saw his former partner, he exclaimed, “Peggy!” They hugged, and within minutes, they were reminiscing about their wonderful time in Japan.
Mann told Yamaguchi about what had happened in the past and showed her old photos of her that he had kept in his wallet for nearly seven decades.
“And I’ve thought about that my whole life, I was worried that you thought I abandoned you,” he explained. “And I’m here to tell you that I never abandoned you. I simply couldn’t find you.”
“Thank you for remembering and [saving] all the pictures, you must have loved me,” Yamaguchi said as he hugged and kissed Mann.
Yamaguchi stated that she had not felt abandoned, and Mann stated that their reunion had “really been a freeing experience for me.”
Watch their long-awaited reunion happen in the video below.