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American war veteran, Harold Terence, returned to Normandy for one special reason: to marry his fiancée, 80 years after he first set foot on the beach during the D-Day landings.
“I came to pay my respects to the 9,634 of my friends who are buried here,” he says.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: A million people gathered on the Normandy coast in France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
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“(But) I really came to invite them to my wedding this Saturday,” the 100-year-old said.
Harold is a member of The Greatest Generation and a veteran of D-Day.
After surviving the war, he returned to New York to work a long career as a salesman and start a family with his first wife.
But at an age when most people think of attending funerals, Terence got married.
His bride Jeanne is 96 years old and they have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Visiting the American Memorial in Omaha Beach this week, where they were carried by US servicemen, the centenarian says he is still living life to the fullest.
So much so, he’ll be walking down the aisle in his beloved France this weekend. Not far from his friends who never came home.
“War is abhorrent and I am a defender of democracy and will go anywhere in the world at my own expense to help keep the peace,” he said.
“If you’ve ever been to Normandy and seen headless bodies and arms and legs everywhere, you’ll understand.”
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