WHEN the young English WAAF officer met her Czech lieutenant during the Second World War it was love at first sight.

They married, had a son and believed they were destined to be together forever.

But politics and prison ripped Jean and Antony Spacek's lives apart.

They did not see each other again properly for half a century - until now.

The couple were reunited in Jean's home town of Eastbourne thanks to the Lincolnshire-based Air Brigade Association. Jean, 78, of Sandwich Street, said: "It was very emotional and very exciting to see him again."

The couple met when Antony, now 82, was a lieutenant in the Czechoslovak Infantry Brigade in Wiltshire and Jean a section officer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

Jean said: "He spoke no English so he came to us for lessons. It was very difficult for him."

There was an immediate attraction and they kept in touch. They were married and eventually moved to Antony's home town of Prague with their son, Milan.

Jean said: "At first I loved it out there. Then the Communists started turning over the government.

"There were lots of armed guards everywhere and it was pretty scary. Tony said Milan and I had to get out and he would try later. He had done it before in 1939, so I believed he could do it again."

But it was to be more than 50 years before Jean and Antony were reunited. He was arrested, accused of pro-Western sympathies and spent first six months in prison, then 11 years on forced labour in uranium mines.

Meanwhile, Jean and Milan lived with her parents in Kent, hoping and praying.

When Antony was finally released he wrote when he could, but he still could not leave the country and had to report to the authorities daily.

They divorced in the hope that cutting off Antony's western ties would help, but it was to no avail. Eventually Antony remarried, though his second wife has since died, but Jean said no one could compare to the love of her life.

She said: "I wanted him to be happy and was glad when he remarried, but he would have been a hard act to follow."

After the fall of Communism Antony was reinstated to his full army rank and given a public apology by the Czech government for wrongful imprisonment. He was promoted to general in 1994.

Now the pair lead separate lives hundreds of miles apart and feel it is too late to start again.

But they are spending their time together visiting friends and relations - including their 21-year-old grandson, Thomas.

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