A World War II veteran has just married his wife near the Normandy landing beaches. He is 100 years old, she is 96 years old

CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France (AP) — Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was almost 200 years old. But World War II veteran Harold Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal by tying the knot on Saturday inland from the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.

While it may not have been the wedding of the century, their respective ages – he's 100, she's just 96 – made their nuptials a celebration almost two centuries in the making.

The location was the elegant stone town hall of Carentan, a key initial D-Day objective that was the scene of fierce fighting after the June 6, 1944 Allied landings that helped rid Europe of the tyranny of 'Adolf Hitler.

Like other towns and villages on the Normandy coast where nearly 160,000 Allied soldiers landed under fire on five code-named beaches, it is an effervescent center of remembrance and celebration of the 80th anniversary of the deeds and sacrifices young men and women that day, adorned with flags and banners and veterans feted like rockstars.

While the swing of Glenn Miller and other period tunes echoed through the streets, well-wishers were already lining up a good hour before the wedding, behind the barriers in front of the town hall.

After both saying “yes” to vows read by a deputy mayor, the couple waved to the adoring crowd outside, flutes of champagne in hand.

Terens called it “the happiest day of my life.”

The marriage was symbolic and not legally binding. Mayor Jean-Pierre Lhonor's office said he was not authorized to marry foreigners who did not reside in Carentan and that the couple, both Americans, had not requested legally binding vows. However, they could still complete these formalities in Florida if they wished.

Honor likes to say that Normandy is practically the 51st state of the United States, given its respect and gratitude to veterans and the sacrifices of the tens of thousands of Allied troops who never returned from the Battle of Normandy.

Dressed in a 1940s dress that belonged to her mother, Louise, and a red beret, Jane Ollier, 73, was among the early bird spectators waiting to catch a glimpse of the happy couple.

“It’s so touching to get married at this age,” she said. “If it can bring them happiness in the last years of their life, that’s fantastic.”