A World War II veteran married his girlfriend on the 80th anniversary of D-Day near the beaches of Normandy, France.
Harold Terens, a 100-year-old U.S. Army Air Force veteran who lives in Florida, married Jeanne Swerlin, 96, on Saturday, June 8, during a ceremony in Carentan-les-Marais, in the Normandy region to the north. France.
The ceremony was officiated in English by Carentan Mayor Jean-Pierre L'Honneur, according to AP. The couple exchanged rings inside City Hall and waved through an open window to people outside commemorating the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France.
“For everyone's good health. And for peace in the world and the preservation of democracy around the world and the end of the war in Ukraine and Gaza,” Terens said in a toast, according to the AP.
The World War II veteran, originally from the Bronx, New York, visited France as an Air Force corporal shortly after D-Day, when he was just 20 years old. Terens had enlisted in 1942 and was stationed in England, where he worked as a radio repair technician for a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter unit.
On D-Day, which took place on June 6, 1944, Terens helped repair planes returning from France to rejoin the battle. That day, more than 150,000 soldiers from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada stormed the beaches of Normandy, marking the beginning of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis. However, more than 4,000 Allied soldiers died during the invasion.
Terens himself went to France 12 days later, helping transport newly captured Germans and newly freed American prisoners of war to England. Following the Nazi surrender in May 1945, Terens again helped transport freed Allied prisoners to England before being sent back to the United States a month later.
For the wedding, Swerlin wore a long pink dress, while Terens donned a light blue suit and a matching pink handkerchief in his breast pocket. After the nuptials, the newlyweds enjoyed a state dinner at the Elysee Palace with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden, L'Honneur told the AP.
Although the ceremony was not legally binding and purely symbolic, the mayor maintained that “love is eternal.”
Speaking to wedding attendees, Swerlin proudly declared of her husband: “He's the best kisser ever, you know?”
“Okay! That's all for now!” Terens said, to which his wife joked: “You mean there will be more later?”
King Charles III, Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also paid tribute to the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Ver-sur-Mer, France. Meanwhile, French President Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron welcomed the heads of state and government in Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer and presented Legion of Honor medals to veterans.
The Prince of Wales joined King Charles and Queen Camilla in France, where he attended the Canadian memorial service at the Juno Beach Center in Courseulles-sur-Mer. Even actor Tom Hanks – who starred Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg's 1998 war film, set during the 1944 landings, was present at the memorial in France.
“If it weren't for your decision to come and do the right thing 80 years ago, you and I wouldn't be here,” Hanks said.
Additional AP reporting
