(Nov. 3) - With their nation on the brink of another world war and fearing they'd never see their sweethearts again, two sisters in England tied the knot with their fiances back in 1939.
Those women married on the same day 70 years ago are now celebrating a combined 140 years of wedded bliss, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.
Doris and Margaret Wiles exchanged vows with their intendeds in a hastily arranged double wedding in Manchester on Oct. 21, just weeks after Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939. The war brides now have seven children, 24 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren between them.
"We thought we may be killed so wanted to get married as soon as possible. My sister and her husband thought the same so we decided to have a double wedding," Doris, 92, told the Daily Mail.
Margaret, 94, added: "We are very, very close -- we were like twins. It was nice for us to get married on the same day."
Doris, then 22, married Lawrence Gregson, a 25-year-old mechanical engineer. Lawrence built Lancaster Bombers. He also worked for the Home Guard, a secondary defense force similar to the National Guard in the United States, in the evenings.
"I only had a few weeks to make both wedding dresses and all the bridesmaid dresses, but we managed it," Doris said.
Margaret, who was 24, married 26-year-old Clarence Corbishley. Shortly after the birth of their first son, Michael, Clarence was called up to the Royal Air Force for a five-year tour.
"The War Office put off calling him until I had the baby because Michael was our first," Margaret told the Daily Mail. "The next time he came home, baby Michael was 6 years old. But we had lots and lots of letters between us -- we loved each other very much."
She and Clarence had five children while Doris and Lawrence had two.
The couples, who have collectively been alive for 377 years, celebrated their joint platinum wedding anniversary in Macclesfield.
"It was nice to celebrate our 70th wedding anniversary all together," Doris said. "We've had a very happy life."
