Tipton couple mark 72 years together

Today, more than 80 years on, Charles and Ellen Harris are happily in love, and marking their 72nd wedding anniversary.

The pair met on the canals in Gloucester when Mrs Harris' mother moved in with her step-father in the city - next door to Mr Harris.

And after serving in the Second World War, they tied the knot on the month of VE Day in June 1945. The pair remain independent and in good health.

The past two years has seen a flurry of celebrations for the couple. Two years ago they marked their platinum anniversary.

Then last year, Mr Harris was awarded France's highest military honour, the Legion D'Honneur, after taking part in the D-Day landings.

Mr Harris, now aged 94, landed on Juno Beach in June in 1944 before fighting his way to Le Havre with the Royal Engineers.

After being hit by shrapnel from a grenade, he was treated back in England and discharged in February 1945.

Two months later he reunited with Mrs Harris, who is now 92, after Mr Harris visited her step father.

Mr Harris: "I saw her, and she was beautiful. I thought, I've done alright here."

After a short engagement they married at Birmingham Registry Office, then moved to the Black Country.

While Mr Harris worked on the railways, starting as a plate layer before moving on to driving excavators, they couple lived at Bilston Railway Station.

They moved to Tipton in the 1960s, and today live in Elizabeth Walk, close to their daughter Ann Davies, who is aged 57.

They also have two sons, Robert, aged 71, and Charles, aged 70. They also have five grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

The couple first met on the waterways in the 1920s, when Mr Harris, who was from Coventry, moved to Gloucester with her mother, where Mr Harris was living.

Both worked on the canals before the war, with Mr Harris taking oil up the canal from Bristol to Gloucester. Mrs Harris helped her mother on the Grand Union Canal Company.

Mr Harris said: "I wouldn't change my marriage for the world. We're both still very happy."

He added: "I put it down partly to the fact we both worked on the canals and have always had much to talk about."

Despite being together for more than 60 years after the war, Mr Harris kept his military exploits to himself – not even telling his children of his involvement in the D-Day landings.

It was Mrs Davies who found out and, after realising he could receive the French award, applied on his behalf.

Mrs Davies said: "My brothers and I are so proud of them.

"They have given us all a fabulous upbringing.

"Still today they are in good health, and we hope to be marking their 75th wedding anniversary in three years' time."

She added: "While they are of the age where their mobility is not what it was, we still take them out together and they love each others' company."