John Rotell met Darlene in Salem, Ore., when he was en route to Texas. Five days later he called her and asked her to marry him. They married in 1970. (Courtesy of the Rotells)

John Rotell has three great loves: music, medicine and Darlene, his wife of 46 years. Born into a boisterous Italian family in Pennsylvania, he joined the Army after graduating from high school. “I volunteered for the draft in 1958 because I was tired of standing in the unemployment line,” he said. His familiarity with the military began when he was a child. His family lived across the highway from Camp Reynolds, a German prisoner-of-war camp, and his father managed the commissary/Cindy Hval, SR Love Stories. More here.

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