20 Vintage Photos Capture the Heartache of Wartime Farewells at the Pennsylvania Station, New York City in April 1943

The photos here, made by LIFE’s Alfred Eisenstaedt in April 1943 at the height of the Second World War, capture true romance — its agonies, its resilience — in ways that pictures filled with sweetness and light never could. Yes, of course, the emotions on display are clearly heightened by the fact that some of these young men, bidding their sweethearts farewell, might never return from the war.

(Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, via LIFE and Shooting Film)