This year, Terens was in the region for a much more joyous reason: His wedding. After participating in the commemoration for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Terens and his 96-year-old fiancée, Jeanne Swerlin, arrived at a stone building in Carentan-les-Marais on Saturday for what he called the best day of his life.
The ceremony was symbolic — not binding in law — according to the Associated Press. Regardless, Terens told The Washington Post that he considers the marriage official and that he doesn’t plan to pursue legally binding vows in the United States.
The couple kissed and exchanged rings, drank Champagne and said they felt like a king and queen when they waved from a second-floor window after the ceremony. After their ceremony, Terens and Swerlin were driven to Paris, where the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, congratulated them during a speech at a state dinner with President Biden.
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“There’s no love affair ever, fictional or otherwise, that’s better than ours,” Terens told The Post on Sunday.
Terens and Swerlin both grew up in New York City but didn’t meet until about three years ago. In 1942 — during World War II — Terens enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and served as a radio repair technician. On D-Day in 1944, Terens said he was stationed in Britain, where he helped repair planes to rejoin the battle in France.
Swerlin, meanwhile, was friends with some U.S. military personnel who gave her souvenirs from the war, such as dog tags. After the war, they both started families and eventually moved to Florida.
But Terens said his wife of 70 years, Thelma, died in 2018 after suffering from breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. The next year, Swerlin said her fiancé, Sol, died while he was in the shower after they were together for 24 years. Neither thought they would find love again.
In 2021, Terens and Swerlin’s friends set them up for a date at Seasons 52 in Boca Raton, Fla. Terens said after his and Swerlin’s thighs accidentally touched under the table, he became infatuated and even lost his appetite.
They began dating then and kissed on their next date; Swerlin said Terens was the best kisser she had ever met. They loved dancing, especially to Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”
“It took 96 years to find out what love is all about,” Swerlin told The Post.
After returning from dinner one night last summer, Terens knelt in Swerlin’s garage and asked her to marry him. Swerlin agreed — then joked that she didn’t know how to help Terens get back up.
Last week was Terens’s fourth time visiting Normandy for D-Day commemorations, but he had another reason to be there this time. Terens said he wanted the more than 4,000 Allied troops who died on the nearby beaches eight decades earlier to attend his wedding in spirit.
On Saturday morning, dozens of people stood outside Carentan-les-Marais’s town hall when Terens, in a light blue suit, and Swerlin, wearing a pink dress and holding a bouquet of flowers, arrived. Terens passed dozens of people clapping and playing the bagpipes as he smiled. About 40 of the couple’s family members attended the wedding, he said.
Terens said his granddaughter sang “I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton as Jeanne walked down the aisle. The town’s mayor, Jean-Pierre Lhonneur, served as the officiant. After he read vows, Terens and Swerlin, who were sitting at a table, were asked if they would marry each other.
“Oui,” they each responded. Then Swerlin threw a bouquet that landed on the ground.
Holding Champagne flutes from the open window of the building’s second floor, Terens toasted: “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 and Swerlin took a car to Paris for a state dinner at the Élysée Palace that night. Terens joked that he was jealous when Swerlin hugged Biden for a few seconds.
Terens said he and Swerlin were exhausted Sunday, but once they recuperate, they will celebrate their honeymoon this week in Paris.
“We’re looking forward to a long and happy life together,” Terens said.
