CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS, France — Almost 80 years to the day after it was engulfed in a bloody D-Day battle, the French town of Carentan was the scene of an improbable love story over the weekend.
Harold Terens, 100, was part of the Allied forces that staged the epic invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. On Saturday, he married Jeanne Swerlin, 96, just five miles from the marshy coastline of Utah Beach where tens of thousands of those troops landed.
“It’s the best day of my life,” said Terens, of Lake Worth, Florida, dressed in a pale blue suit adorned with his war medal.
Swerlin, wearing a pink dress and being clutched by her beau, said: “It’s not just for young people, love, you know? We get butterflies. And we get a little action, also.”
Their wedding party was equally no ordinary affair.
The couple were invited to an Elysee Palace state dinner with President Joe Biden and his host, French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Congratulations to the newlyweds,” Macron said, prompting cheers and a standing ovation from other guests during the toast praising French-American friendship.
It came two days after the 80th anniversary of D-Day, a regionwide celebration and commemoration that transformed this part of northwest France into a living museum of parades, ceremonies and re-enactments.
Around 200 veterans are believed to have attended this year. Terens was among them, one of around 50 flown over by the California-based Best Defense Foundation to be honored at a number of events throughout the week.
Very much in keeping with the festival atmosphere, bagpipers bearing the American star-spangled banner and the French tricolor played the couple into the town hall. Carentan Mayor Jean-Pierre Lhonneur read the vows — receiving a giddy “oui!” from both.
The wedding was symbolic, not binding in law. Lhonneur’s office said that he wasn’t empowered to wed foreigners who aren’t residents of Carentan and that the couple, who are both American, hadn’t requested legally binding vows. However, they could always complete those formalities back in Florida if they wished.
Afterward they waved to gathered spectators from an upstairs window, holding Champagne flutes.
“To everybody’s good health,” Terens toasted. “And to peace in the world and the preservation of democracy all over the world and the end of the war in Ukraine and Gaza.”
This year’s anniversary is especially noteworthy because it may be the last major milestone featuring many of the veterans themselves. All are in the 90s or over 100, like Terens.
He spent that day working as a radio operator mechanic based in Yorkshire in northern England, communicating with 60 P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes flying over France — only half of which returned.
Twelve days later, he traveled to Normandy in person to transport newly freed American prisoners of war back to England and pick up newly captured Germans.
Interest in his wedding was so great that it attracted a media gaggle four rows deep. Days beforehand, however, Terens gave his thoughts to NBC News in a telephone interview.
“My cup runneth over, I’m blessed, I am the luckiest guy in the whole world to be back here, and I plan on coming next year and the year after,” he said.
The battle eight decades ago was never far from his mind. He described the war as “hell” and the sight of dead bodies and remains littering the beaches as “one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen in my life.”
Carentan, a key strategic town close to the coast, was the site of a major battle, depicted in the 2001 HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers,” four days after D-Day itself.
By holding the wedding here, Terens bookended a remarkable lifelong relationship with this part of the world. And he hasn’t forgotten his compatriots who died here that day.
“I’m spiritual, and I came here to invite all those soldiers buried on Omaha Beach, 9,836 of them, to my wedding,” he told NBC News before the event. “I’d like them to attend in spirit. And I want them to know that they’re not forgotten.”
The mood at the ceremony was far from somber, however.
“He’s the greatest kisser ever, you know?” Swerlin said, swooning while surrounded by TV cameras.
“All right! That’s it for now!” Terens said as he came up for air. To which she quickly quipped: “You mean there’s more later?”
Konstantin Shukhnov reported from Carentan and Alexander Smith from London.
