More than half a century ago two Bermudians and one American formed a friendship so close that they were known as "The Three Musketeers." They worked and played together, raised their young families and worshipped together. When the American was transferred back home he didn't keep in touch, but neither did he forget his Island friends, nor they him. For decades Glenn Mitchell dreamed of returning to Bermuda and finding his fellow 'Musketeers' again. Thanks to a generous son, he finally succeeded at Eastertime. This is his story.

From 1947 to 1949 the two carpenters worked alongside each other at the Naval Operating Base (NOB) in Southampton as civilian employees of the United States government.

Both family men, American Glenn Mitchell and Bermudian Frederick Tucker, were also neighbours whose children played together. In fact, their respective sons, Jerry and Reggie, were born a month apart.

On Sundays, the families worshipped at St. James' church, and the pals - part of a close-knit trio which included NOB colleague and fellow carpenter Albert (Dusters) Maybury - shared a common passion for fishing. Such was their inseparability, in fact, people started calling them 'The Three Musketeers.'

" 'Dusters' had a 16-foot dinghy with an outboard and we spent our nights fishing and inviting people over to eat some of the catch," Mr. Mitchell said, while Mr. Tucker remembered often sending some of their catch ahead to Mr. Maybury's mother, who would have it cooked by the time the fishermen arrived home.

"We would sit off and have a couple of 'beverages' while we ate the fish," he said. "We never drank at sea."

The 1940s was a time when life in Bermuda was civil and unhurried, and close bonds between US base personnel and locals were regularly forged. For Mr. Mitchell, being posted to Bermuda after wartime service in the US Navy in the Pacific was idyllic. His job was to teach his trade to US Navy Seebees who were building houses on base.

While here, Mr. Mitchell's two-son family grew to include a daughter, Sharon, but nine months after her birth the family returned to the US, and the 'Musketeers' were no more. The Mitchell family settled in Maryland, where Mr. Mitchell continued working as a carpenter. Although he did not keep in touch, his two Bermudian friends never forgot the pal they called "Mitch."

Mr. Tucker's family grew to include two daughters, Ann and Janet, and he added countless fishing trophies to his collection. When the NOB closed, he transferred to the US base at Kindley Field, where he remained for the rest of his career.

Mr. Maybury moved to the United States, where he continues to live in New Rochelle, New York. Twice a year, including Christmas day, he and Mr. Tucker have always telephoned each other, and without fail their conversation always includes reminiscences about their absent friend.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mitchell, by now the father of two sons and two daughters, eventually divorced and remarried, as a result of which he acquired two stepsons, giving him a total of six boys and two girls to raise.

He never forgot 'Dusters' and Frederick, and retained a lifelong dream to return and see them again - a fact of which his family was well aware.

"We had a great life but I never forgot Bermuda, and I never let the kids forget it either, " Mr. Mitchell said. "Every Christmas they'd send me cards, and I'd ask them, 'Where's my ticket to Bermuda?' "

Finally, last year his son Jerry looked at his balance sheet and he could finally underwrite his father's dream.

"I told him I had bought his ticket and paid for his accommodation and we're going," the younger Mitchell said.

Thus it was that, more than half a century after leaving here, Glenn Mitchell, Jerry, Sharon, grandson Ryan, and Ryan's friend Erik all flew to Bermuda for Easter. As it happened, Easter Sunday was also the elder Mitchell's 83rd birthday, so it was double cause to celebrate.

Naturally, he wondered if his erstwhile buddies were still around - or even alive - but no one knew how to go about finding out, for in all the ensuing years not one letter, post card or phone call had ever been exchanged with 'Mitch.' The men were just memories in each other's hearts until a chance enquiry brought all of the answers they sought in one fell swoop.

"When we arrived at the airport I asked the Customs officer, Noel Burgess, if he had heard of Frederick Tucker or 'Dusters' Maybury. (Bermuda being Bermuda) By an incredible coincidence, the latter was Mr. Burgess' uncle, and he also knew how to contact Mr. Tucker.

"Can you believe it?," Jerry Mitchell said. We had this information not 15 minutes after landing here!"

In typical Bermuda fashion, it didn't take long for word to reach 79-year-old Mr. Tucker that his old pal was on the Island and looking for him. As luck would also have it, the Mitchell clan were booked in to Munro Beach Cottages in Southampton - just a short distance from the Somerset home where Mr. Tucker has lived for most of his life. One phone call was all it took to close the gap on more than half a century, and the two men spent long hours catching up.

"It was the biggest happiness ????? of my life to come back to my friend because I didn't know if he was alive or not," Mr. Mitchell said.

But that wasn't the only good news. He was also "reunited" with the third 'Musketeer' by telephone.

"I phoned 'Dusters' and said, 'I've got an old fishing mate of yours here who wants to have a word with you'," Mr. Tucker related.

"Who, Mitch?" the man replied instantly.

And so the gap in the circle was closed.

"You have to have a great friendship not to forget somebody after 50 years," Glenn Mitchell said. "People think, 'He's gone, don't worry about him,' but not us."

Of course, the former base employee had a host of memories of his time here in the 1940s, but one in particularly stood out.

"I went to Hamilton on the Navy boat, and when I went to catch it back at 2 a.m. I had no small change, but I did have a $20 bill, which the sailor refused to take, so I had to walk all the way home to Somerset," Mr. Mitchell related. "The fool knew I worked on the base, but he was adamant: 'No money, no ride.' I was so mad I never forgot it."

He also recalls how neighbours regularly turned up at his home on Thursday nights with their shopping lists which he would happily fill at the cheap base commissary. Similarly, taxi drivers gave him containers to fill with gas at on-base prices.

There was no racism, or local-ex-pat animosity.

"Everybody got along, and at Thanksgiving we'd all sit down together," Mr. Mitchell said. "I regularly walked to the Somerset Cricket Club to shoot pool and have a few black rums."

Not unexpectedly, the former carpenter saw many changes in Bermuda this time, not all of which were positive.

"Hamilton is very crowded and very, very expensive," he said. "We saw a sign saying 'the coldest, cheapest beer in town' but it cost me $4 a bottle against $1.35 at home."

Looking far younger than his 83 years, the chipper grandfather - who lives on Chesapeake Bay and remains a keen fisherman - is raring to return to the Island next year, where he and Mr. Tucker are confident that Mr. Maybury will arrange to join them. Daughter Sharon, who lives in Arizona, was also thrilled to visit the birthplace she was too young to remember, and is planning to accompany her dad on his next trip.

"I would live here in a heartbeat," the pretty widow said. "There is no place in the world with water like Bermuda's."

Not even the traumatic burgling of the family's room - as they slept - with the the loss of Sharon's money, gold watch, laptop, and digital camera - the latter a precious, final Christmas gift from her late, beloved husband - could detract from the overall love of the Island Mr. Mitchell and his oldest daughter once called home.

"We will be back," they vowed.