Also, while in the hospital, he fell in love with a nurse seven years older than him, Agnes von Kurowsky. When he returned to the United States in January 1919, after completing his treatment, Ernest decided to marry Agnes. However, a few months later, she informed him by letter that she was engaged to an Italian officer. Ernest was deeply affected by the loss and was distraught. Being abandoned by a woman was so humiliating to him that since then, he was the first to end a relationship to avoid experiencing another abandonment.
