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Posted July 04, 2018 at 08:05 AM | Updated July 04, 2018 at 08:05 AM
By Marisa Iati | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
In July 1943, the Allies bombed Rome for the first time, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was arrested, and Sheila and Bill Lidman got married at a synagogue in Brooklyn.
Now living in a quiet community in Monroe Township, the Lidmans will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, July 4, in a very different world than the one in which they first made their vows.
NJ Advance Media sat down with Bill, 96, and Sheila, 94, last week to talk about what it was like to get married on Independence Day during World War II and what it takes to make a marriage last for 75 years.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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Bill and Sheila Lidman at home in Monroe Township on June 28, 2018. The couple will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on July 4. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media)
Why did you decide to get married on July 4?
Bill: My home was in Rochester, New York, but I was working in Cleveland and she was in Brooklyn. In order for a wedding to take place, my family had to commute from Rochester to Brooklyn. During World War II, it was difficult to get time off. July 4 turned out to be a Sunday, so we thought that would be a good time to do it.
Sheila: We were married in the synagogue, the East Midwood Jewish Center, and we had a small reception afterwards. Then my mother and father invited his family to our apartment for dinner. It was very low key – not what they have today.
What do you remember about that time leading up to your wedding and when you got married?
Sheila: It was not the best of times. We were losing the war at that point. Our young men were volunteering in other countries, like Canada and England. We were hearing rumors about concentration camps in Europe, but we really weren’t that knowledgeable about what happened. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor the day after my 18th birthday.
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Wedding photo of Sheila and Bill Lidman (Courtesy of Lidman family)
What was it like to have a celebration in the midst of a hard time?
Bill: It was a very meager, very small affair. It was probably appropriate considering the things that were going on at the time. My brother-in-law was in the Army. I think he ended up in Iceland, so he wasn’t at the wedding.
Sheila: And friends of mine from high school were drafted into the Army or Navy. You listened to the radio, and the news was bad.
