(NewsNation) — Just 80 years after Harold Terens landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, as part of the D-Day operation, he made another memory at the site: marrying his fiancée, Jeanne Swerlin.
The two tied the knot Saturday near the place he and nearly 160,000 others landed on June 6, 1944, in the fight against the Nazis.
“I just love this place. It has horrific memories for me,” Terens told NewsNation ahead of the ceremony. “And it has beautiful memories for me.”
On D-Day, Terens helped repair planes returning from France so they could rejoin the battle. He said half his company’s pilots died that day. Terens himself went to France 12 days later, helping transport freshly captured Germans and just-freed American POWs to England. Following the Nazi surrender in May 1945, Terens again helped transport freed Allied prisoners to England before he shipped back to the U.S. a month later.
It’s not the first time 100-year-old Terens has returned to the region. He attended the 50th, 70th and 75th anniversary of D-Day not far away from their wedding venue, meeting U.S. presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as well as French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron gave him a French Legion of Honor for his service during World War II, an event Terens called “one of the most memorable moments” of his life.
Terens said the idea for their destination wedding came about while he was out with lunch with a friend.
“A year ago, we were having a lunch, and [my friend] says, ‘You know, I like your girlfriend. She’s pretty nice. Why don’t you get married? And why don’t you get married in Normandy? You’re going to be there anyway. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a destination wedding in Normandy? Wouldn’t that be memorable?'” he shared.
The pair wed at the elegant stone-worked town hall of Carentan, a key initial D-Day objective that saw ferocious fighting after the June 6, 1944, Allied landings that helped rid Europe of Adolf Hitler’s tyranny.
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, center left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, center left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, kiss as they arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, arrive to celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, celebrate their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, kiss from a window after celebrating their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 
US WWII veteran Harold Terens, 100, left, and Jeanne Swerlin, 96, smile from a window after celebrating their wedding at the town hall of Carentan-les-Marais, in Normandy, northwestern France, on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But Terens and his sweetheart Jeanne Swerlin proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
After both declaring “oui” to vows read by Carentan’s mayor in English, the couple exchanged rings. Then, with Champagne flutes in hand, they waved through an open window to the adoring crowds outside.
“To everybody’s good health. 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,” Terens said as he and his bride then clinked glasses and drank.
The crowd yelled “la mariée!” – the bride! — to Swerlin, who wore a long flowing dress of vibrant pink. Terens looked dapper in a light blue suit and matching pink kerchief in his breast pocket.
And they enjoyed a very special wedding-night party: They were invited to the state dinner at the Elysee Palace on Saturday night with Macron and President Joe Biden.
The wedding was symbolic, not binding in law. Mayor Jean-Pierre Lhonneur’s office said 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.
Planning a wedding, symbolic or not, at 100 was no easy task — but Terens’ secret to a fulfilled life? Destress when possible and crack open a can of fish.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff … and remember, when you eat, just make sure you have two cans of skinless and boneless sardines every week. They must come from Morocco, and they must be in olive oil,” he said. “Those are my two prescriptions for longevity.”
Though Swerlin made it clear she hates sardines, she loves Terens and was excited to say “I do” in such a historic place.
“He’s amazing. He has a memory like no one else,” she said. “He has wisdom.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
