A SUTTON Scotney couple recently celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary with a card from the King and Queen.

Ioan and Heidi James, of Oxford Road, marked 70 years of marriage on June 12.

Ioan, 92, and Heidi, 89, have two daughters, two grandchildren and a great-granddaughter, seven-month-old Poppy. 

When asked what their secret is to a long and happy marriage, Ioan said: "Just do as you're told" and Heidi added: "Always doing things together."

Ioan was born in Wales and raised on a farm in a little village called Caio, near Llandovery. He joined the British Army at 17 in 1950 serving in the Korean War and in Aden and Kuwait during the 1961 crisis.

Ioan and Heidi James (Image: Contributed)

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In 1951, with his regiment the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, he embarked on the troopship HMT Empire Fowey setting off for war in Korea, docking in Kure, Japan, for a week before being transported by boat via Hiroshima and Sasebo to Pusan and then by American Troop train to Seoul to join the 8th King’s Irish Hussars on the Han River, repairing their famous Centurion tanks.

Returning home in early 1952 he was posted to Luneburg in Germany where he met Heidi, a young German girl. 

Ioan and Heidi James (Image: Contributed)

Their daughter Janette Munro Ford said: “On their first date he took mum to the ‘pictures’ and on the second date she stood him up! Apparently in those days it was not quite the done thing for a young girl to go out with a soldier. But fate intervened and not long after, he spotted her by chance at a local boxing match and the rest is history. They married 18 months later in Luneburg with her family’s full blessing.”

As a military wife Heidi embarked on a life of new adventures supporting her husband and bringing up their children, with two postings to Cyprus and later Germany once again. 
Ioan retired as a Warrant Officer after 23 years of military service and then worked for IBM for 20 years. After an early retirement they travelled overseas extensively, spending much time on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.

They are now looking forward to attending their grandson’s wedding in New York at the end of August when James marries his American girlfriend, Chandler, in Lower Manhattan.

Thrilled to receive a celebratory card from the King and Queen, they celebrated their milestone anniversary with a family dinner followed by a few days away on the Dorset coast.