Fred and Doris Butt toasted 60 years of married bliss with champagne and cake in front of family and friends at The Tudors, in Stanground

War hero Fred served in the Royal Navy as a stoker during the Second World War in the highly dangerous North Atlantic Corridor, carrying essential supplies back and forth from the United States,

When his ship was torpedoed he found himself in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

He said: "I won't talk about what happened but I have never taken anything for granted. I was one of the lucky ones, we lost a lot of men. We always used to say this trip might be our last and to be quite honest I never thought I would survive, so to see 60 years of marriage is something."

Fred (84), from Thorney Fen, was home on leave when he first laid eyes on Doris, nee Nicholls at a dance in Whittlesey.

The sailor, nicknamed Lofty, asked her to dance but still believes it was his bell bottomed naval uniform that caught her eye. After he was de-mobbed in 1947, the virtually penniless pair worked hard to save enough to get married.

The couple wed in Whittlesey and honeymooned in Blackpool before setting up home in Yaxley where Fred worked as a long-distance lorry driver.

They have four children, 10 grand-children and 12 great-grand-children.

The couple were popular fixtures in Yaxley as steward and stewardess of the British Legion bar for 15 years until retiring.

Doris (82) now is cared for in The Tudors and Fred visits every day, although he fears the rising cost of fuel may mean they might have to be fewer.

Fred believes it is their share and share alike attitude that has helped them last the distance. He said: "If she wanted anything, I got it for her if I could. I couldn't ask for a better wife."