YOUR report of the diamond wedding of Heinz and June Fellbrich, of Hampshire - the first to marry when the government allowed German prisoners of war and British girls to do so after the Second World War (Echo, Aug 15) - reminded me of an incident in about the same year (1947) outside the Register Office, then in North Road, Durham.

My brother, recently discharged from the Army after being wounded in Italy by fleeing Germans, was accosted by a German PoW about to get married who asked him if he would act as his best man/witness, as he had no one to "stand for him".

Surprisingly, my brother, still suffering from his wounds, agreed.

For this service my brother was rewarded by the PoW with a ten shilling note (50p), which was a worthwhile sum in those days. At that time, a soldier's pay was five shillings a day.

The ten shillings was never spent, but framed by our mother and is still around somewhere.

I doubt if the participants of this wedding still survive, but somewhere there is a marriage certificate bearing the signature of Roy Gordon - a complete stranger to the bride and groom.

Alan Gordon, Esh Winning, Durham.