In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, the Journal-World asked readers to send their love stories in a contest to win an ultimate date-night package.

The judges were wowed by the 115 entries, but one winner stood out.

Micheal Clodfelter and his wife, Rena Clodfelter, shared the story of how they met during the Vietnam War in a typewritten letter that judges said was the clear favorite.

The Clodfelters win a package of prizes: a $75 gift card from Owens Flower Shop, two tickets to Bernadette Peters at the Lied Center, two tickets to the Explorers Club at Theatre Lawrence, 60 minutes of massage therapy for two at Salon Di Marco & Day Spa, a $50 gift card for Merchants Pub & Plate and one night’s stay at Victorian Veranda County Inn.

Here we share the Clodfelters’ story as well as the other nine entries in the top 10.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Micheal Clodfelter, Lawrence

Micheal Clodfelter, of Lawrence, pictured with his wife, Rena, submitted the winning entry in our love story contest. He and his wife met during the Vietnam War. Pictures of them from earlier times line the wall behind them in their dining room.

Our 48-year-long romance and marriage were the direct result of a punji stake wound. I was a 20-year-old Kansas boy with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam, looking forward to a 90-day early discharge from the Army gained by extending my combat tour by an additional two months. She was a radiantly beautiful 18-year-old Tennessee girl named Rena Katherine.

Our paths would never have crossed had I not been walking point at the head of my platoon in December 1966 when, to avoid sniper fire, I failed to avoid a punji stake – a prolific, if primitive, booby trap made of bamboo and often smeared by the Viet Cong with water buffalo dung to spread infection. Having ripped my leg open, I spent a month in the hospital instead of the required two more in the bush. Consequently, I ended up back at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for three more months of dreary garrison duty.

Soon after arriving “back in the world,” my new barracks buddies dragged me to an on-base nightclub where some of the “local beauties” congregated. There I encountered Rena, ill at ease but glowing like an orchid among the weeds. She too had been shanghaied by some of her more party-hardy girlfriends, having finally consented, after much haranguing, to join them in their dalliance among the “doggies” (G.I.s). We were both shy and introverted and both felt out of place, but it turned out to be the perfect place for us. Four months later, by way of serendipity and the fortunes of war, we were married.

Curtis Eisenhour, Olathe

My wife and I first met on ChristianMingle.com in March 2010. After meeting in person, at my wife’s house in Lawrence, we instantly connected and both knew we were right for each other. As we courted and got to know each other deeper, we discovered we had crossed paths several years before. We both attended Chi Alpha, a college Christian fellowship group, in 2004 at Missouri State in Springfield, Mo. We even lived across the street from each other and had never met. Fast-forward to 2012 — our story was featured on Christian Mingle’s website and we ourselves were featured in a TV commercial that aired for over two years. Search YouTube for “Lori & Curtis: Love Song.” Our picture was also featured in a digital billboard in Times Square in New York; search Google images for that. We are still happily married with a 14-month-old son, and remain strong ambassadors of the Lawrence area. Go, Jayhawks! Thank you and God Bless.

Christina Mastro, Eudora

Although my love story is beautiful, it doesn’t hold a candle to the “perfect” love story. My parents have been married for 39 years in June. My dad was born and raised in Long Beach, Calif. His senior year of high school, my grandparents moved him to Willis, Kan. This was a huge change for this long-haired “hippie,” as the country folks called him. He met my aunt and went to her house to ask her out. My mother (her younger sister) answered the door, and my dad describes love at first sight. My mom had six brothers and sisters and they were never allowed to be alone. Each date that they went on she had to take a younger sibling. My dad was 18 and my mom 16. My dad had to get out of the small town and he enlisted in the Navy. In order for my mom to go with him they had to get married. When my mom asked my grandpa to sign for her to marry, he said, “I will do this, but if you move out you can’t come back.” My mom became a military wife, moving from base to base while my dad was gone on an aircraft carrier. They have overcome so much over the years. My mom told me that although it wasn’t always easy, it was always worth it. They started out as two crazy kids who had never even had a date alone when they married. My mom’s health has been very poor for the last couple of years, and my dad has never left her side supporting her and holding her when she cries. Theirs is the truest love story I have ever heard. I see it in the way they look at each other 39 years later. My dad is gone on what we hope is his last deployment before he retires from the military and this would be such a fantastic way for them to celebrate his homecoming.

Cody Keener, Eudora

We share the bowl of ramen noodle soup nested between our thighs atop the duvet. Salami sandwiches balance on the rim like acrobats cheating death. We pass a single spoon back and forth, skimming the broth like a rowboat in still waters, raising food to each other’s lips with the steady grace of a swinging church bell.

The television hums atop cardboard boxes. We bask in the radioactive glow as steam from the bowl dances between our knees. You get most of the noodles; I drink down the rest. We do it in silence, an improvised ballet, an unspoken clause in the contract we made.

A salty kiss signals the end of the meal. I rinse the dishes in the kitchenette while you flick off the unfinished movie. The television crackles into submission, the last wave of pale blue light washes over our bodies. We have seen this movie before, memorized the plot twists and most of the dialogue. In fact, we had been ignoring it for hours.

Debbi Johanning, Lawrence

One night when I was in college, I was with friends at my new favorite bar, the Sandbar. We were sitting in the comfy chairs that sadly no longer exist when I heard someone say, “Hey, there’s David Johanning!” I may have had a few drinks in me, but I recognized that name.

My parents have been huge KU basketball fans for a long time, and they watched plenty of games on TV while I was in high school. I vividly recalled my mother talking about her favorite tall, skinny, blond basketball player and becoming giddy with excitement whenever he played. And getting very angry when K-State fans pelted him with quarters.

So when I heard his name that night, naturally my first thought was, “I have to have my picture taken with him for my mom!”

I had my camera with me and enough drinks in me that I had no angst about asking a total stranger to pose for a picture for my mom. He graciously agreed. We’ll celebrate 15 years of marriage this year, and my mom still has the photo on her refrigerator. You really can meet a good guy in a bar.

Heidi Wylie, Lawrence

A mutual friend of ours sent me a text: “You should marry my Scottish friend.” I thought it was a silly introduction, but it was an intriguing gesture. I had a get-together at my house and he showed up unannounced. We talked for hours and I remember vividly the story he told me about his pet rabbit growing up. We stayed up the entire night getting to know each other, swapping stories and laughing. The next day he took me out for lunch at our mutual favorite Mexican place. On the way to the restaurant a Tool song came on the radio and we both shouted “I love this song!” It was weird how much we had in common. After spending a lot of time together over three weeks, he proposed with a ring and a picture of us on our first date in a frame that said “Love.” Of course I said yes. We got married less than a month later and have been together for three amazing years. He makes me laugh every day and I’m so grateful to have this wonderful guy in my life!?

Amy Haake, Lawrence

Joe and I first met when we were 10 years old. I moved into his neighborhood. We went to school together and became close friends — a friendship that lasted through college. But life got hectic. I moved away, and we lost touch. Ten years later, I moved back to Lawrence. When he found out that I had returned, he invited me to dinner “as friends.” Four months after that, we married. Today, we are in our sixth year of marriage, we are raising four kids, one lizard, and one dog together. And, we are best friends with a lifetime of memories to share. I’m so happy I accepted his dinner invitation.

Jason Davis, Independence, Mo.

I met my wife over the Internet and we became best friends by email, phone and text. It took her over seven years to finally agree to meet me in person as she was afraid I was some Internet stalker. We met in person the first time in June of 2009 and spent five days together. I knew she was the one even before we met in person. July 2009 I went to see her (in Canada) and also met her parents. September 2009 I drove to Canada to pick her up so she could move to Kansas City. While picking her up I saw her parents again and asked her father if I could marry her. He said yes and that he had never seen his daughter as happy as she was then. I asked her to marry me later that afternoon and she said maybe, then asked me if I asked her father yet, and then said yes. We got married in Vegas seven months later on April Fools’ (some of our friends still might not believe us). We now have two beautiful children and one amazing love story. There is so much more to the story, and we believe it should be a book/movie someday, but I had to keep it under 200 words!

Matthew Pool, Lawrence

We met dancing but never really spoke to each other much as each week went by. We had mutual friends but not much else in common (or so we thought). She then went off for two years to teach children in the Philippines and soon after I was deployed to Iraq. Both far away from home, we found each other online and awake when the rest of the world we knew and longed for was asleep. When we came home within a month of each other we agreed to help each other readjust to American life, and our friendship blossomed. I casually slipped into one of our conversations that I was happy with our friendship but if it eventually turned into something more I would be happy with that as well. She got the hint. On our six-month anniversary I took her to our favorite coffee shop in Lawrence (a place where we knew the staff very well) and ordered the special, which I had arranged ahead of time to say in chalk: “Betsy, Will you marry me?” The barista handed me the ring from behind the counter as I got on one knee, and the rest is history.

Lynn Decoeck, Lawrence

If you had asked me when I was 13 if I thought I’d meet my future husband within a year, I would have said you were crazy. But at 14, I met him, a year older than me and so cute he had a following of girls who liked him. I didn’t think I had a chance. But we did become friends and enjoyed hanging out with our group of friends. He asked me out about a year later and still, as terrific as this puppy love was, I had no idea how wonderful it would become. We learned that we were exact opposites and we learned how beautiful that was. His engineer’s mind and scientific approach to life complemented my more artistic and aesthetic style. As some of my friends decided to break up or get married right after high school, my sweetheart and I attended separate colleges, continuing our relationship long distance and taking it a day at a time. Amazingly, nearly 20 years later, despite 700 miles between us while he attended graduate school and I worked in the theater, we survived, he proposed and we now await our fourth child due in a few months.

Not every love story has a happy ending…

On the Street: What was a time when Valentine’s Day went wrong?

Asked in downtown Lawrence on February 13