NOT many people have a bomb to thank for helping them to find the love of their lives – but Jean and Kenneth Collins do.
The couple, who celebrated their Platinum Wedding on Tuesday, first laid eyes on each other at Chatham Dockyard in 1944.
At the time, Mr Collins's ship was being repaired having been damaged by a mine on the way back from the D-Day landings.
His future wife was working as an electrician's mate at the dockyards, working on the ships, and the two met as work began.
Mr Collins said: "I was lucky to be there. As we were coming back from D-Day we went over a mine which magnetised and it fixed itself underneath the ship.
"It stuck to the back and went off which damaged us."
He added: "When we got into Chatham docks, the guys came aboard to investigate and they couldn't believe we got back.
"The mine went off right under [one of our weapons] magazines. They said to us 'What are you doing here? You should be dead'."
The couple were married soon afterwards at Reigate Registry Office while Mr Collins was on leave. But shortly after their nuptials, he was posted to Burma for two years.
Mrs Collins, 90, told the Mirror: "I kept working at Chatham docks; I just sort of carried on. There wasn't much I could do about it."
Mr Collins, also 90, added: "We are talking 70 years ago, people did just carry on."
When Mr Collins left the Navy in 1946, the couple moved to Reigate and he took a job working with a baker in the town.
"When I was in the Navy first I was 17 and I was paid 4 shillings a fortnight," he said.
"That went up to full rate when I turned 21, but working for the baker I was getting a pound a week, so I felt rich."
Mr and Mrs Collins had four children, Janet, Michael, Deidre and Patricia, and their family has now grown to include eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Mrs Collins added: "They are wonderful, all of them. I love them to bits."
The Collins's lived in Whitstable for 20 years and indulged a passion for indoor bowls. Mrs Collins believes hobbies like that and their love of travelling close to home have been central to their long marriage.
Sat in their home in Redhill's Three Arches Park, the couple were sure there was one more secret to long-term happiness: "We are a good team," Mrs Collins said.
"There is no arguing with him but it doesn't matter because it all comes out in the wash."
