Dearest Darling tells the true story of the WWII romance and marriage of Anthony (Tony) Porto of New York, a Navy aerial photographer aboard the USS Saginaw Bay, and Bernice Hardey of Texas. From a box of letters stored for decades, their daughter-in-law recounts their inspiring life together.
Key to the story are Bernice's late-in-life recollections of the letters Tony wrote to her while he was aboard ship in the Pacific during the final battles of WWII. The letters were a lifeline, as Bernice listened to news feeds from Tokyo Rose about supposed Japanese triumphs and worried about Tony's safety amidst the heavy fighting. When Tony died in 2011, Bernice disclosed to the family their lifelong secret, recalling how happy she was the day she finally received the long-awaited letter from Tony disclosing in code that he was finally coming home.
Code? What code was she talking about? The code, which neither Tony nor Bernice had ever mentioned before, was his way of letting her know his ever-changing location in the Pacific without arousing suspicion from the Navy censor, who read all outgoing mail.
Unraveling the code and reading Tony's elegant letters brings to life Bernice and Tony's deepening love amidst the backdrop of war. The letters chronicle his journey from aerial-photography training to pre-invasion surveillance to photographing the invasion of Iwo Jima.
Dearest Darling is more than a classic WWII love story. Bernice's and Tony's postwar lives are inspiring examples of devotion to something bigger than oneself: in their case, faith, family, community, country, and--above all--each other.