Free To Kingdom Come by Robert J. Mrazek Page A

Millbrook, New York, she dropped out two years later to become an instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in hopes of pursuing a career as a professional dancer. Along the way, she dropped the name Braxton in favor of Betsy, or “Battling Betsy,” as she was quickly nicknamed within the family.
    One evening in July 1941, she had gone with several girlfriends to hear the new orchestra appearing at the Larchmont Yacht Club, and was watching the couples spinning across the floor when her eyes were drawn to a tall young man dancing with a blond girl.
    At first, she thought he might be a professional. As a dance instructor, she could appreciate the gift, and silently wished he would ask her to dance with him. When the orchestra took a break, he and his dance partner were joined by two other couples. As Braxton watched them chatting, another member of the club stopped by her table to say hello. She found herself asking him who the young man was on the dance floor.
    He immediately went over to the group and said in a booming voice, “Say, Ted ... there’s a girl over there who wants to dance with you.”
    Red-faced with embarrassment, she watched as he came over and politely asked her to dance. The orchestra began again with a rumba, the complex and energetic dance that required a solid dose of natural grace. They ended up dancing together the rest of the night. When she was about to leave, Ted asked to see her again.
    In the months that followed, Ted came to see her as a “wonderful freak of nature.”
    The formal celebration of their engagement took place on a Sunday evening at the American Yacht Club in Rye, New York. She had bought a new dress for the occasion. Ted’s mother had just picked her up to take her to the club.
    “Have you heard the news, Braxton?” she said. “We’ve been attacked by the Japanese in Hawaii.”
    It was December 7, 1941.
    The engagement party was only a few minutes old when their guests began leaving the celebration to cluster around the radio in the bar to hear the latest updates of the Pearl Harbor disaster.
    On December 8, the same day President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against the Japanese, Ted went down to the army recruiting office in Manhattan and enlisted in the army air corps.
    Ted and Braxton were to be married the following summer in Scarsdale. Their mothers were already planning the celebration. The two women hoped it would be the society wedding of the year.
    In February, Ted began air force training at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. A few weeks later, he wrote to Braxton and asked her to visit him on Easter weekend. When she arrived, Ted said he wanted to get married right away. Braxton told him that their mothers would have a conniption. Ted said he didn’t care. He didn’t want to wait any longer to start their lives together.
    After briefly returning to New York, Braxton crammed everything she needed into one suitcase, and rode by train down to Ocala, Florida, where Ted had begun primary flight training. She took a room near the base, staying with him until he moved on to basic flight training at Greenville, Mississippi.
    There, an incident occurred that threatened his air force career.
    After Ted allegedly allowed the cadet in the chair next to him to copy his work during an examination on radio procedure, both cadets were grounded from flying and suspended from the course, pending an investigation.
    Almost insane with worry, Braxton decided she had to act. Scouring her meager wardrobe, she put on a gray dress and walked to the base home of the colonel in charge of the training command.
    “I have to talk to you, sir,” she said when he came to the door. “Ted Wilken is not a cheat. He is the most honorable man I’ve ever known, and you can’t let his life be ruined.”
    The words were flooding out before she suddenly remembered that under air force regulations, they weren’t even supposed to be married. It was too late now. At one