Joe McDonald, then 18, first met Claire Walker, then 24, when he was posted to a base in Fairford, Gloucestershire, England with his job in the US Air Force.
The couple fell in love after their first drink at the Egypt Mill pub in Claire’s home town of Nailsworth, England in 1989.
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The next year, Claire fell in love on a work holiday to Ibiza and ended up staying there to marry her husband until 2010 - with whom she has a son, 13, and a daughter, 15.
Meanwhile Joe moved to Louisiana and met his wife on a blind date, with whom he had a son.
But 20 years later, Joe - who had split up from his wife - was able to get in contact with divorcee Claire by posting a message on the Nailsworth town website.
The couple is now set to marry - with Claire, now 47, and her children set to move in with Joe, now 40, in Kansas City, Missouri, next year.
Claire said she was “heartbroken” when Joe was forced to move away back in 1989.
She said: “We had such a great time together we were just like any young couple in love. We would have liked to have got married but his parents said he was too young.
“It was different back then, there was no internet or mobile phones. He had my address but he never got back in touch and I was so upset.
“I went to Spain on a work holiday and ended up falling for a guy there who became my husband. I was on the rebound from Joe and I just stayed over there.
“I kept thinking about Joe, every time I saw Afghanistan on the news I would wonder if he was flying there but I never thought I would hear from him again.
“But one day, when I was in a hard place because of my divorce, my brother phoned and said ‘you'll never guess who is looking for you’ and told me to go on the website.
“My heart just stopped. Within 24 hours I had sent him an email and we were falling in love again.”
Joe - who had kept a picture of him and Claire from 1989 - decided to get back in touch with his sweetheart and posted a message on the Nailsworth website on August 25.
It read: “My name is Joe McDonald and I was stationed at RAF Fairford from 1990 - 1992 and met a wonderful person named Claire Walker from Nailsworth.
“She use to work at the Town Centre Supermarket but I forget the name. She had a brother that was training to fly.
“I would love to get in touch with Claire if anyone could help me.”
Claire’s brother Brett spotted the message and called his sister in Ibiza to get her to have a look.
She immediately responded and within 24 hours was chatting again to Joe. The couple fell back in love online over the next four months and pledged to spend their lives together.
In May 2010, the mother-of-two flew to meet him in Kansas City and spent a week with him.
“I was at the airport and I felt a shaking hand touch me on the shoulder. I looked round and it was Joe. I had butterflies, it felt exactly as it had 20 years ago,” she said.
Joe then visited Claire at home in Stroud, in May 2011, for two weeks. Claire returned back to Kansas City in March this year.
The couple plan to marry and live together, with Claire and her children moving to America next year.
Source: Yahoo! News
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