Couple who met during World War II to wed after 70 years apart

Janine Stange
Apr 2, 2018 9:40 AM PDT
1 minute read
Couple who met during World War II to wed after 70 years apart

(Photo: Daily Mail)

British WWII Veteran Roy Vickerman, 90, and Nora Jackson, 89, are getting married after breaking up seventy years ago.

They first met back in 1940, Roy was the new kid in Nora's high school.  According to Vickerman, he was enamored from the moment he laid eyes on her.

"When the teacher told the class there's a new boy from London, all the faces turned towards me but the only one I saw was Nora," Vickerman said in a recent interview with ABC News "I thought to myself, she's the girl for me."

They were engaged in the summer of 1944 - one week before Vickerman would depart for Normandy. He made it through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, but never made it to the alter.

Roy served with the famous Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) and Britain's Highland Light Infantry. In 1945, a bullet from a Nazi sniper shattered a bone in his lower leg that required reconstructive surgery.

His visible wound wouldn't prevent him from walking down the aisle with his fiance, but his invisible wounds would.  He developed 'shell-shock' or what is now known as Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) from the war.

In 1946 Vickerman had called off their wedding due to the hard time he had transitioning into civilian life after his service.

"Nora stayed with me as long as she could," he told the Daily Mail, "but in the end I wanted to be on my own and she gave me the ring back."

The two went their separate ways. Vickerman went on to become an architect and Nora worked at a local factory. They each got married and had children. Neither of them heard from the other for seven whole decades.

Last year, Vickerman dialed Graham Torrington's "Late Night Love" show on BBC radio and reminisced on air about his long lost love. He told the host he wished he could ask her forgiveness for leaving her.  The show's producer ended up tracking down Jackson's home address.  Their homes were only two miles apart, but amazingly had never had run into each other over the years. Vickerman, a widower for four years, hesitated to reach out to her for a week.

"I didn't want to intrude if Nora had a husband," he said, "but one day, I just thought, 'No, I'll just go get some flowers and tell them I'd like to ask how Nora is and that I'd like to apologize to her for what happened."

It turned out there was no man in her life for him to be concerned about. Jackson's husband had passed away 12 years ago.

"Nora came to the door and put her arms around me and gave me a kiss," he told ABC News  "She told me, 'Oh Roy, I thought I'd never see you again,' and then she gave me a kiss and said, 'Hold me.'"

Jackson, who admits to have dreamed about Vickerman, told her side of the story to the Telegraph,

It's a really lovely story, there's no doubt about it. It's so clear in my mind. I heard the bell and I opened the curtain a little bit. I was so taken aback. I knew him straight away but I never thought I would see him again. He had changed a lot but I could still recognise him. We put our arms around one another and we went into the living room and sat and talked for hours. It was a shock to see him because it had been such a long time but it was lovely. It was just like old times.

Four hours into their reunion, he finally went outside to tell the cab driver that he would be staying. They have seen each other every day since. And on March 26th, Vickerman's 90th birthday, he proposed to her with the same ring he used 72 years before. She said yes.

They couple is planning to get married this summer.  "It would certainly do for me if we could wed in a week! We certainly do believe fate brought us together again," he added. "I'm sure it was the will of God."

 

 

 

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