The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Couple celebrate a wedding that almost never took place
Couple recall drama that almost put paid to their special day
An Arbroath couple whose marriage almost didn’t happen because of the Gulf War celebrate their silver wedding anniversary today.
Two days before Marine David Howard was due to marry Sheenagh Beatt he received a call from RM Condor near Arbroath telling him he was to be deployed to Iraq.
The news put the wedding in jeopardy as David waited for news about when 3 Squadron would be leaving.
The couple had to continue with their wedding plans knowing they could change at short notice.
Sheenagh, 53, said: “He thought it was a joke at first – we just couldn’t believe what we were hearing.
“He went away back to camp and he was told to start packing – at that stage we didn’t know whether we were going to get married or not.
“David came back on the Thursday night, for our rehearsal. I remember the minister Walter Beattie telling me, ‘Sheenagh this wedding will go ahead because you two are meant to be with each other’.”
The next day David received injections and had fallen asleep when Sheenagh came to drop off his wedding suit that evening.
He received more injections the morning before their wedding at the Old and Abbey Church in Arbroath, which meant he could not drink.
He was allowed to leave the base to be married on Saturday April 20 1991, though he had to tell his superiors where he would be in case the situation changed.
“It was a brilliant day – I would do it again tomorrow,” said Sheenagh.
“David went back to Condor on the Monday and he was away to Iraq on the Tuesday.”
The couple’s marriage so close to David being deployed even made headlines in The Courier.
Instead of the 10-day trip to Barbados the couple had planned as their honeymoon, they had a night away at Letham Grange. They eventually got away for their dream honeymoon in July.