The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1918-02-13
AMERICAN SAILORS
TAKE irish BRIDES
MANY HAVE MADE OVER PROPER
TY TO NEW WIVES.

BASE AMERICAN FLOTILLA IN
! British Waters, Jan 30-Every part
Of the United States has supplied a
hero. in love romance that have culmi-
/ mated in happy marriages between
! American bucjackets and bIue-eyed
! Irish maidens since the arrival Of the
| American des troyer forces in the south
! Of Ireland After the war, every part
j OF the United States from Maine to
| California and from the Great Lakes
to Florida will boast Of an Irish bride
/ who was woood and wen in her native
/ land by an American sailor.
| All of the brides are looking forward
| 10 jhat happy day when they Will see
what their husbands SO proudly pro-
claim as Gods Country" Already
! the American sailor has supplied his
Irish bride with all necessary docu-
ments to establish her identity as an
American and some have even had
their property in the United States
! transferred to their wives as a precau-
zion is case they lose their lives for
their county.
There is the marriage of former
ranchman, Bert Adams, to Brigid
] O'Rourke, whose family descends from
an Irish king of that name Adams
! who is a boiler maker on one Of the
/ dcstroyers, halls from Hugo, Colorado.
! lie is now arranging to have his ranch
/ in Colorado decided to his wife as
precautiOn in the event of his being
1 torpedoed His wife's relatives live in
| Bruce, County Limerick, and there is
| plenty of anccdote connected with the
/ family's relation to the O'ROurke's Of
kingly fame. 81 don't know any thing
about ranching," Mrs. Adams told The
Associated Press correspondent, "but
am preparing myself for the fair land
Bert has told me so much about study
ing a history of Colorado"
Then there is the case of Mary
! Ridge, head waitress at the leading
hotel here, who lost her heart to IIar-
Hand G. Ritchie, a mechanics mate first
class. OF Aston, Mass She was one Of
most popular girls in town. The din
| ing room over which she presided is
l0ut OF bounds to enlisted men, but
I Richie cOntriVed to see her when she
was of duty They knew each other
for four month before Mr.. Richie led
her to the altra of the village church
But the record for love at first sight
among the American belongs to
Young seaman, Paule Valachovic by
name. who used to work in the ma
chine shop of the General Electric
company at Schenectady, N. Y. lie fell
in love the first day he stepped ashore
here, from his destroyer. Ada Jones,
Cork girl, was the object of Cupids
Dart. After the war Valachovic is go
ing 10 take her back with him 10 that
thriving city in New York.
A few Americans first met their
wives on visits to England. Charles
Harmon Cobia, of Charleston, S. c., fell
in love on the beautiful Cornish riv-
iera with Ada Gilbert, a widow OF "A,
whose home was in Plymouth. Anoth-
or English bride is Nora Elizabeth Kit
who was married TO Joseph w. High
| field of Des Moines. Iowa.
| But the majority of the Americans
married Irish girls who lived in the vi
entity of the American Naval Base and
| whom they met at the dance hall or
roller skating rink Thus Doris Fran
els Phillips is now Mrs. Leo Vincent
| Flaven, of Hanover, Mass; and Mary
! Ellen Sullivan has become the wife OF
| Thomas A. Balschi. of Mount Carmel
! Pa. After the war Mary O'Keefe, who
| became the wife of Edward C. Turner,
expects to desert the trying climate OF