For 75 years, Charlie and Mable Mitson have enjoyed a marriage of adventure, humor and love

Seventy-five years ago Tuesday, a pastor married Charlie and Mable Mitson.

The young couple, both Coeur d’Alene teenagers, were about to embark on lives on the cusp of change: Within two years Mable would begin having their children as Charlie parachuted onto the battlefields of World War II.

Through it all they kept a sense of humor and their vows.

“I refer to Mable as my first wife just to keep her on her toes,” Charlie said.

“It really worked, too,” Mable responded with a laugh during a recent interview.

They met at church, struck up a couple of conversations and were married on Mable’s birthday.

After the wedding, Charlie landed a job at the Farragut Naval Base. It paid $1 an hour.

Between 1943 and 1957, the couple had five children – Larry, David, Jeff, Kathleen and Patty.

Charlie was soon drafted into WWII and trained as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He parachuted into war as part of the Allied invasion of Southern France. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

At the end of the war he was part of the occupation force holding Berlin for six months.

He returned home to Mable in early 1946 and took flying lessons using the G.I. Bill to become a commercial instructor pilot.

Following a year in Arizona training in jet fighters, they returned to Coeur d’Alene. He would fly fighter jets in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

They were stationed in Washington, Idaho, Florida, California, Maine, the Philippines – “It goes on,” Mable said while laughing. “I think our favorite place was a place no one else would ever pick.” That was Loring, Maine.

“We were stuck out there with no place to go,” she said, “You had to make your own entertainment.”

In Oklahoma, Mable was the president of the Officers’ Wives Club, which had 200 members. Throughout the years, she worked as a nurse’s aide, operated a floral shop in Edwards, California, and worked in the Mad Money Mart in the Philippines. She also coordinated the children’s schooling, managed bills while Charlie was deployed, and was active in the church.

In January 1979, Charlie retired from active duty as a full colonel. He received the Purple Heart during WWII for jumping into southern France.

“My career has been his career. When he retired in California, the general retired me too,” said Mable, who received a certificate from Charlie’s general.

The Mitsons have five children, 10 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

“We’ve had a good life. We’ve moved around, seen a lot of places, done a lot of things, settled down here with all of our kids,” Charlie said, “We’re surrounded.”

The pair renewed their wedding vows at their 50th wedding anniversary. They’ve lived on the South Hill since they moved back to Spokane in 1979.

Throughout all of Charlie’s tours, Mable said, “I had enough faith in God, I knew that he would come back.”

“She wouldn’t let me go,” said Charlie of their early days.

“I had my claws stuck in,” Mable replied, “I loved him.”

“She couldn’t pass me up because I had a Model T Ford to run around in,” he joked.

“I think we had true love,” said Mable, “I still love him.”