WWII veteran marries 96-year-old bride near Normandy landing beaches

A 100-year-old World War II veteran has married his bride in a ceremony near the Normandy landing beaches.

Harold Terens – a 100-year-old US Air Force veteran – called it “the best day of my life” as he married 96-year-old Jeanne Swerlin on Saturday.

Heading into the ceremony, the bride-to-be said: “It's not just for young people, love, you know? We've got butterflies. And we've got a little action too.”

She also said her beau was “the greatest kisser ever.”

The couple were married at the town hall of Carentan, a key initial D-Day objective which was the scene of fierce fighting after the Allied landings on June 6, 1944.

The vast amphibious invasion helped push back Nazi forces until Germany was forced to surrender a year later.

Along with other towns and villages on France's northern coast, Carentan is organizing commemoration events to mark 80 years since the invasion of nearly 160,000 Allied troops under heavy fire on five code-named beaches.

Well-wishers commemorating the anniversary filled the streets outside the ceremony.

After saying “yes” to the vows read by the mayor of Carentan, Jean-Pierre Lhonor, in English, the newlyweds exchanged their rings.

Flutes of champagne in hand, they waved to the crowds outside through an open window.

“To the good health of all. And to world peace, to the preservation of democracy everywhere and to the end of the war in Ukraine and Gaza,” the groom said.

Mr. Terens enlisted in 1942 and, after shipping to Britain, was attached to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter unit as a radio repair technician.

Learn more:
D-Day veterans – from time to time
These D-Day commemorations were different
Tom Hanks speaks at the D-Day Memorial
The best and worst films about D-Day – judged by experts

Click here to follow Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

On D-Day, he helped repair planes returning from France so that they could return to combat. He said half of his company's pilots died that day.

The aviator himself flew to France 12 days later, helping to transport freshly captured Germans and just-released American prisoners of war to England.

On Saturday evening, the happy couple attended a state dinner at the Elysée with President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden.

“Congratulations to the newlyweds,” declared President Macron in a toast saluting Franco-American friendship.

The marriage was symbolic, because the mayor is not authorized to marry foreigners who are not residents of Carentan and the couple did not request legally binding vows, the town hall said.