Benny and May's amazing love story

Theirs is an amazing love story which survived separation during the war followed by decades apart in different countries..

After 43 years they found each other again and crossed an ocean to rekindle a romance that has already lasted a lifetime '“ Benny is now 89, and May is 86.

Back together they now spend six months of the year living in Ocklynge Close in Bexhill and the other six months in Canada where Benny is from.

Having grown up in Moose Jaw, he was a 19 year old soldier in the Canadian Army when he came over to Britain with the first draughts in December 1939.

He was stationed all over the South of England from Worthing up to Westerham before being based at the Ridge in Hastings, followed by the Adelphi Hotel in Warrior Square, St Leonards, in 1943.

"I loved dancing then," said Benny '“ real name Gilbert.

"I danced all over England, and then I went dancing at the Olympia on the seafront at Hastings. And that's where we met. I was dancing with a lady '“ I don't remember who '“ and then up came the Excuse Me dance, and I saw this lady got a tap on her shoulder, and it was May.

"It was wham!

"I guess it was love at first sight - on my part anyway - just wham, and I was in love."

She was May Waters at that time, a girl who had grown up at Holmes Farm cottages on Whydown Road and at 17 joined the ATS, working at the RASC record office based at Ore Place.

"I saw him dance and I thought he was interesting," commented May.

"But I had been in the army for three or four years at that point, and I had met quite a few guys. We always liked the Canadians in this country because of their accents...and most of them were part British, so we felt we had something in common.

"He was a very quiet individual back then. We have tried to laugh about it, and think about what happened, but we can't remember what we said, or any conversation we had."

The couple saw each other when they could, and met up to eat beans on toast in the Canadian soldiers' cafe, but had not thought of making it official by the time Benny received the news he was to fight in Italy.

May said: "Some people in war-time rushed off, and got married straight away, but we didn't make that commitment to each other. I think I was too much of a realist. I am an only child and I think it would have broken my parents' hearts to have the prospect of me going to Canada to live. So we didn't commit."

They had only known each other for three months when Benny went away in July 1943. Having fought in the Invasion of Sicily he stayed there until December 1944 when he was sent home to Canada because he had been away for more than five years.

His great hope was to be allowed to return to England and May but an argument with a commanding officer meant he was posted instead to Saskatchewan and denied the chance to go back to Britain.

He and May had written to each other occasionally but the letters dwindled away and she was "a bit miffed" when she learned he had gone home on leave without telling her.

"We didn't know what each other was doing," she remembered.

Having lost touch the couple after the war built up separate lives '“ Benny married Grace and they had a daughter Dorothy. He stayed in the army for 36 years and finally discharged as a Captain in 1974. He and Grace then moved to Hamilton in Ontario where Dorothy was married and was bringing up her own family.

Meanwhile May had met an English soldier stationed in Bexhill. She married John Stanley in 1946 and they lived in South West London where they raised three children. They moved to Sutton then Bedford, where they retired, before finally settling in Bexhill 20 years ago '“ then John died five years later.

May commented: "Benny and I didn't know what happened to each other. After my husband died almost immediately I thought about him and wondered what that guy was doing in Canada. I tried various ways to trace him, but my final throw of the dice was to put an advert in the Canadian Legion Magazine."

Amazingly Benny had never received the magazine before this particular edition in 1996 so was stunned when his own name came popping off the page alongside that of May's.

The two then corresponded but Benny called a halt because he was still married to Grace and did not feel this was the right thing to do.

His wife then died in June 2008 having suffered from heart problems, and Benny contacted May a couple of months after that.

He flew over to visit and as soon he saw May the feelings came flooding back.

"We hit it off and realised we were still in love with one another. I only came over for a month that first time, and then I went back and May came back with me."

They spend all their time together now and are thrilled to have the backing of Benny's daughter Dorothy who contacted the Observer to tell of this "truly wonderful love story".

May said: "It's different now '“ it's totally different. It was 66 years from the time I first met him to the time I met him again, and we had aged considerably, we had lived a life.

"I think you have to take into account that for the majority of our lives we didn't know each other and didn't have contact, so we were two different people from what we were in those early days.

"But I am certainly glad we got back together finally.

"He is a very romantic man.

"I would like to say we both honoured our marriages for as long as they lasted...It was a nice moment when I opened the door and he was standing there because we clung on to each other for quite a long time, because we knew at that time we were both free and we would not be hurting anybody. That was the main thing...not to hurt anybody in this love affair."

"And it is a love affair," said Benny.