CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France — The bride and groom’s combined age was nearly 200 years, but World War II veteran Harold Terence and his sweetheart Jeanne Swearin proved that love is eternal when they were married in inland France on Saturday. D-Day Beach in Normandy, France.
The couple’s wedding marked a celebration of nearly two centuries — the husband is 100 and the wife is 96. The New York City natives met in Boca Raton, Fla., three years ago, and say dancing to their favorite music and holding hands keeps them young.
Speaking on the CBS Evening News earlier this week, Terrence shared his feelings about Swerlin.
“I’m marrying this woman because I love her,” he said. “She’s one of the most amazing women.”
On the way to her wedding, the bubbly bride said: “Love isn’t just for the young, you know? We get our hearts racing too. And a little action, too.”
Jeremias Gonzalez/AP
The location was Carentan’s elegant stone town hall, an early key objective of D-Day, the scene of fierce fighting that helped liberate Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny after the Allied landings on June 6, 1944.
Like other towns and villages along the Normandy coast, where some 160,000 Allied troops landed under fire on five code-named beaches, the beach has become a vibrant center of remembrance and celebration, decked out in flags and bunting and veterans feted like rock stars to mark the 80th anniversary of the achievement and sacrifice of those young men that day.
As Glenn Miller swing and other period music echoed through the streets, celebrants — some dressed in World War II-era costumes — lined up behind the fence outside City Hall for an hour before the nuptials, with an excited pipe-and-drum band also serenading the happy couple.
After both said “yes” to the vows read in English by Mayor Carentan, the couple exchanged rings.
“With this ring, I marry you,” Terence said.
She gasped between giggles, “Really?”
With champagne glasses in hand, they waved through open windows to the enthusiastic crowds outside.
“I wish you all good health, world peace, the preservation of democracy around the world, and an end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza,” Terence said, clinking glasses with his new wife.
The crowd chanted “La Marie!” (The Bride!) as Swerlin wore a long, flowing bright pink dress, while Terence looked dapper in a light blue suit with a pink scarf tucked into his breast pocket.
And they’re planning to throw a special wedding night party: The mayor said they’ve been invited to a state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden at the Elysee Palace on Saturday night.
The wedding was symbolic and not legally binding — Mayor Jean-Pierre Launeur’s office said he does not have the authority to marry foreigners who are not residents of Carentan, and that the couple, who are Americans, have not requested legally binding marriage vows — but they can return to Florida at any time to complete the process if they wish.
Ronneur likes to say that Normandy is effectively America’s 51st state, out of respect and gratitude for the service and sacrifice of the tens of thousands of Allied soldiers who never made it home from the Battle of Normandy.
“Love is eternal, maybe,” the mayor said of the newlyweds, a comment that aptly describes the feelings many Normans have toward veterans.
“I wish you both the very best.”
Jane Ollier, 73, was one of the spectators who woke up early to catch a glimpse of the lovebirds, wearing her mother Louise’s 1940s dress and red beret.
“It’s very moving to get married at that age,” she said. “If it can bring them happiness in the last few years of their lives, that’s wonderful.”
A World War II veteran, Terence first visited France as a 20-year-old U.S. Army Air Corps corporal shortly after the Normandy landings. He enlisted in 1942 and was sent to England, where he was assigned to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron as a radio repair technician.
On D-Day, Terence helped repair planes returning from France so they could return to combat. According to Terence, half of the pilots in his company were killed that day. Terence himself went to France twelve days later to help transport recently captured Germans and recently liberated American POWs to Britain. After the Nazi surrender in May 1945, Terence helped transport liberated Allied POWs to Britain, returning to the United States a month later.
The couple, both widows, grew up in New York City, she in Brooklyn and he in the Bronx.