by: Barbara Eastom Bates
On any given day at MCAS Cherry Point, the wind is alive with the roar of jet engines. It is the sound, as proudly proclaimed by the air station welcome sign, of freedom. The stories of those who have defended this freedom are many; Cherry Point boasts a long legacy of heroes in dress blues. Yet, legend has it, years before the installation itself was commissioned, duty called here for another man. He would be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice for its preservation, but it would be his wife who would be remembered the most for it.
Her name was Bonnie Sue. As a young military wife, the legend tells she and her husband shared a home at what is now the location of Cherry Point’s, Marine Air Control Squadron-2. Her husband was called off to war, leaving Bonnie Sue behind to await a return that would never come. It is said she spent the rest of her life seeking the return of her lost love, only to eventually die heartbroken and alone. In death she remained as lonely as she had been in life, buried in a solitary grave upon the land where she had spent her life grieving.
Years later, the Cherry Point air station would be built around this site. The grave remained untouched; a cold, marble testament to the existence of a woman whose life was the love she gave and shared with one man alone.
Some say, even in death, Bonnie Sue knows no peace. Hushed whispers speak of a figure in the shadows whose cries are often heard muffled on the wind. Stories are told of a mysterious female visitor who still begs of the sentry on duty to know when her husband, lost for so many years, is coming home. Perhaps these are just the stories of the ages, passed on from one generation to the next, the purest example of Semper Fidelis.
Then again, perhaps she walks tonight.