As the Allies entered the French capital in their push to defeat Nazi Germany, Frederick Joseph Busuttil and Antonia née Scicluna were tying the knot at the Gżira parish church.

It was Saturday, August 26, 1944. Little did they imagine that 70 years down the line they would still be living side by side, together with their seven children, 23 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

“Tolerance, true love and mutual understanding are the secret of our everlasting love,” Ms Busuttil, 89, says. “We had our ups and downs, like any other couple, but thanks to our mutual commitment and belief in God, we are still going strong 74 years after we first met.”

Tolerance, true love and mutual understanding are the secret of our everlasting love

At their venerable age, the inseparable couple still enjoy singing together to the tune of their favourite song – Begin the Beguine, a hit dating back to 1938 – just like they did in their teenage years.

It was back in 1940 when the future wife and husband crossed paths for the first time at the Busy Bee Café in Msida. It was August 26 and exactly four years later, when they were both 18, they would start married life in a house in Rue D’Argens Street, Gżira, the same road in which they were both brought up, albeit in completely different environments.

Frederick Joseph and Antonia Busuttil on their wedding day on August 26, 1944.

Ms Busuttil, who came from a working class family that included six children, owes most of her upbringing to their neighbour due to the fact that her mother was unable to look after her because she was bed-ridden.

When World War II broke out, their financial situation worsened as their house was bombed three times and they had to move from Paola to Ħamrun and then Gżira.

During this turbulent period, she used to go to Gozo three times a week to visit her mother who spent the war years in hospital. She also recalled going to Għar id-Dud, in Sliema to buy scraps of blankets, from which she would make a coat for special occasions.

“However, buttons were a rarity in those days and, very often, the solution would be to use safety pins,” she said.

In sharp contrast, her future husband knew nothing of the hardships of war as he hailed from a middle-class family and was relatively well-off.

“For me marriage was an overnight transition from hell to heaven because, all of a sudden, I started leading a much easier life,” Ms Busuttil said.

Nevertheless, in those days, tradition dictated that the father of the bride had to pay for the wedding reception. Seeing that her father, a labourer, could not afford such an expense, her neighbour again came to the rescue and footed the bill.

The wedding reception was held at her mother’s house.

“My sister had offered to play the accordion for free to provide some form of entertainment,” she said. “From then onwards we made it a point that every celebration would be held at my mum’s home so she would be present.”

Looking back at those early days, the couple recall going to the “talkies” or to the dances at the Phoenicia Hotel, in Floriana. They vividly remember frequenting the Gaiety cinema, the Alhambra or the Majestic in Sliema, which, in those days, were the places to be.

Ms Busuttil was also fond of drama and proudly points out that in her early teenage years she was lucky enough to set foot on the stage of the Royal Opera House, before it was razed to the ground in 1942.

By the time she was 29, she had to look after five children but she insists that being a full-time mother and housewife was the most rewarding experience in her life.

For 34 years they lived as an extended family as they hosted her mother-in-law who became a widow relatively young. “Though we lived under the same roof, she never interfered in our relationship.”

They used to go all the way up Savoy Hill for a day by the sea at Fond Għadir, in Sliema “and we always recited the holy rosary on our way back home”.

As their strong faith would demand, they marked their platinum anniversary with thanksgiving Mass at the parish church at San Ġwann, where they have been living for the last 51 years.

Flashback to 1944...

• The largest seaborne invasion in history begins on June 6, as 155,000 Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy in France.

• Going My Way, featuring Bing Crosby, was the highest-grossing picture of the year and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture.

• Dumbarton Oaks Conference – US, British Commonwealth and the USSR propose establishment of the United Nations.

• Anne Frank and her family sent to concentration camps where she died in 1945.

• Scientists at Harvard University construct the first automatic, general-purpose, digital computer.