Second World War soldier Kenneth Pickard has a special reason to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day – it was the night he met the love of his life.
Kenneth, who lost his right leg above the knee in fighting after D-Day, had struggled to his local park on crutches to join the national party.
Worried about his future prospects, he “wasn’t thinking of meeting anyone, certainly not my future wife”.
But Kenneth, now 96, and Barbara, 94, are still together after that chance meeting on May 8, 1945.
Ken, who served in the Hampshire Regiment, said: “I was thinking about if I would get my job back and how life would be as an amputee, it was all very uncertain.
“I wasn’t thinking about finding a girlfriend, but it is amazing we met in that crowd and are together 75 years later.”
Barbara, who was 20 at the time, added: “I remember there was music and dancing and he was on his own. No one was talking to him so I smiled and he gave a half-smile back.
“He was very quiet – he didn’t mention his injury at all, and has never really spoken about the war.
“He was very worried about his job as he was an only child and had to look after his mother.”They wed 18 months later at their local church in Trowbridge, Wilts, and still live in the town with son Malcolm.
Despite being just 20 when he suffered his injury, Kenneth says he felt “very lucky as there were lots of lads who didn’t make it back”.
He returned to his job as a newspaper printer and joined limbless veterans charity Blesma.
Ian Waller, from Blesma, said life “after a battlefield amputation was very tough” for thousands of veterans.
But he said: “Kenneth meeting Barbara on VE Day and enjoying such a marriage is a heart-warming story.”
