A 100-year-old American World War II veteran plans to marry his 96-year-old fiancee in France as part of that country's 80th anniversary celebration of D-Day.
World War II veteran Harold Terens, 100, right, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, share a laugh as they speak during an interview, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Boca Raton, Fla. Terens will be honored by France as part of the country's 80th anniversary celebration of D-Day. In addition, the couple will be married on June 8 at a chapel near the beaches where U.S. forces landed.
Terens enlisted in 1942 and shipped to Great Britain the following year, attached to a four-pilot P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron as their radio repair technician. Terens said his original pilots all died in the war.On D-Day — June 6, 1944 — Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle. He said half his company's pilots died that day.
Terens soon contracted dysentery, which almost killed him. In another close call, a British barkeep refused to serve him past the mandatory closing time despite his pleadings for just one more drink. Moments after he was kicked out, a German rocket destroyed the pub. Swerlin married at 21 and was a full-time mom to two girls and a boy before being widowed in her 40s. Her second husband died after 18 years of marriage. She then lived with Sol Katz for 25 years before his death in 2019. She has seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.She met Terens when her children attended camp with his grandchildren years ago and remained friends. She and a friend thought the two might hit it off, so invited them to lunch.
After that date, Swerlin said, Terens"didn’t give me a chance” to turn him down. At 94, she also was in love.
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