Photo By Bethany Huff | Billie Endress, left, an operations specialist with U.S. Army Garrison Poland, and...... read more read more
POZNAN, Poland – "I thought to myself, who is this guy wearing flip-flops?", laughed Aniela Endress, a former Army Polish nurse, recalling her first impression of now-husband Sgt. 1st Class Billie Endress, a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier.
The two met serendipitously in March 2020. While most of the world was thrust away from each other during COVID, Billie and Aniela were, thanks to their respective militaries, literally assigned to stand next to each other. Billie, deployed to Poland with the 652nd Regional Support Group – a precursor unit to what would eventually become U.S. Army Garrison Poland, and Aniela, then serving with the Polish military’s 14th WOG (14th Garrison Support Unit). The pair were assigned with the task of manning the post’s gate and checking the temperatures of arrivals.
“It was a really weird time,” Billie recalled. “The base was locked down. If you lived on base, you couldn’t leave, and if you didn’t live here, you had to be cleared to enter.”
Their paths crossed repeatedly at the checkpoint, with masked faces and limited interactions, but something sparked between them. What started with quick glances and casual exchanges eventually grew into something neither of them expected—a love story shaped by duty, distance, and a pandemic that changed the world.
Billie’s role as the deputy mayor required him to ensure U.S. troops were fulfilling guard duties at the checkpoint. Each morning, he arrived to check on Soldiers, ensuring they showed up to take temperatures. That’s when he started noticing the same red-haired Polish nurse standing at the gate.
“I’d see her there every morning, and eventually, I realized we were looking at each other’s eyes a little longer than necessary,” Billie said. “With the masks on, all I could see were her eyes and her hair, but I could tell she was smiling.”
For Aniela, Billie stood out for a very different reason—his choice of footwear.
“He was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops in March,” she said, shaking her head. “I remember thinking, ‘Doesn’t he freeze?’ In Poland, we bundle up because if you get sick, it’s serious. But here’s this American walking around like its summer.”
Despite the masks and gloves, a silent connection was blossoming. However, with restrictions in place, their relationship could only develop in brief moments at the checkpoint. Their conversations were limited, yet they found ways to communicate with gestures, laughter, and lingering glances.
The base remained in lockdown for 100 days, making traditional dating impossible. So, when Aniela later found Billie on Facebook and messaged him, their conversations deepened. Meanwhile, Billie, who had initially been assigned to supervise checkpoint duties, found a convenient excuse to stay longer.
“I was supposed to rotate Soldiers out for lunch breaks, but I told their first sergeants, ‘Hey, I know you’re busy, I’ll just cover the shifts myself,’” Billie said.
The truth was, he wanted more time to talk to Aniela. And as their conversations grew, so did their feelings.
When the base finally eased restrictions, they had their first unofficial date on the base’s small courtyard. Billie, determined to make it special, gathered whatever he could find, a packet of nuts, dried cranberries, and some powdered grape-flavored sports drink. He laid them out on a bench calling it a charcuterie board.
Aniela, in turn, brought Billie a gift: a box of chocolates filled with whiskey.
“I thought she had given me actual liquor,” Billie said, laughing. “I panicked and hid it, because I didn’t want to get in trouble. I only found out a year later that it was just chocolate.”
As restrictions lifted, their relationship grew beyond the checkpoint. Billie knew he was falling for Aniela, and within months, he told his father, “I think I could marry this girl.”
But their relationship soon faced its biggest test. When Billie’s orders in Poland were unexpectedly curtailed in 2021, and he had to leave for six months.
“That was a tough time,” Aniela reflected. “When you are apart, you realize even more how much you care for someone.”
They kept in touch daily, bridging the distance through video calls and long conversations.
For Aniela’s birthday, Billie decided to surprise her with a hidden gift. Months earlier, she had crafted a decorative glass jar filled with tiny sheep figurines and fake grass for Easter. Knowing she would never throw it away, Billie carefully hid a jewelry box inside, under the grass.
“I thought, ‘She’ll never find this unless she cleans it out,’” Billie said. He was right.
Months passed, and on her birthday, Billie called her from the U.S. as she was frustratedly searching for some missing documents.
“Where did you put them?” she asked.
Billie seized the moment. “They’re in the sheep jar,” he said.
“Billie, you’re silly, there are no documents in the jar,” she responded, rolling her eyes as she pulled it down from the shelf. But when she opened it, she stopped. Inside was the jewelry box.
While that wasn’t the proposal, it was the moment she knew the proposal was coming.
When he returned to Poland, he planned a romantic weekend getaway. He placed the sheep jar on the bed, this time with no hidden surprises—just a familiar reminder of their story.
As Aniela walked into the room and approached the tiny sheep menagerie, she turned around to find Billie on one knee.
“I knew it the moment I saw the jar,” she said.
Their story had started in a moment of uncertainty, in a time when the world was on pause. But through laughter, cultural differences, and long-distance challenges, they found love in Poznan – flip-flops and all.
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.11.2025 04:54 |
| Story ID: | 490513 |
| Location: | POZNAN, PL |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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