Newspaper Article 2013 – Milestone for wartime sweethearts

Milestone for wartime sweethearts

By Sam Hurley
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Today marks 70 years since a simple shepherd married the head ploughman’s daughter in Waipukurau.

Charlie, 93, and Isa Anderton, 91, met a year before they married in Waipukurau’s St Mary’s Church. However, it was 1943 and their marriage began at the height of World War II.

A veteran of the 20th Armour and 28th Assault squadrons, Charlie enlisted in the army and spent two years on homeguard service defending the country from the imminent Japanese invasion.

“Isa went into the air force and for a while was at Linton camp and we used to meet up in Palmerston North, I was supposed to be defending the country” he said.

“We just sort of met up and it was war time,” Isa said. “He threw a letter on the railway station in Palmerston North and that’s when I knew he had gone off to war.”

Charlie had been quickly shipped off to Egypt and finished the war fighting through the tail end of the Italian campaign.

He said it was difficult to be away for such a long time but they would write to each other at every chance.

When the war came to an end Charlie had to wait two months before being shipped home.

“We didn’t know at the time I left but Isa had become pregnant with my first son, so when I came home he was 16 months old.

“It was a great thing to come home to,” he said.

The couple eventually took over the family farm in Otane before running a sheep farm in Waipawa where Charlie, who had always been a keen dog person, participated in dog trails and competitions.

Today the couple both still drive and Isa plays bridge.

They have three children, two sons, Ross and Neil and their daughter Judy Macdonald who said her parents defied their age and act more like people who were 20 years younger.

“They live quite an active and social life, they behave more like a 75 year-olds.”

Charlie and Isa will celebrate today’s milestone with a small group of special friends by taking them out to dinner.

“He threw a letter on the railway station in Palmerston North and that’s when I knew he had gone off to war.”
Isa Anderton

Photo captions –
NUPTIALS: Charlie and Isa Anderton on their wedding day.
PHOTO/SUPPLIED
PLATINUM ANNIVERSARY: Charlie and Isa Anderton celebrate 70 years of marriage today in Waipukurau.
PHOTO/NICKI HARPER