A Fleet Week fling was true love

HEAD OVER HULLS

She couldn’t resist a man in uniform. On May 21, 2008, Damire Winn was a civilian studying fashion at Parsons School of Design when she experienced Fleet Week for the first time. She was having a girls’ night at a Lower East Side watering hole that just happened to be swimming with Navy men.

‘A perfect gentleman’

“We kind of looked outside and saw these guys in uniform and were like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Fleet Week.’ So, of course, we went outside to talk to them,” Damire, now 36, recalled of the “eye candy” in dress whites.

One of the men was fair-haired logistics specialist David Winn who “looked like Popeye” and insisted on buying her a drink at now-closed Sixth Ward.

“He looked really good in that uniform,” Damire said. “It really brought out his arms and his butt.”

After a few rounds, the duo escaped to a quiet corner of the bar, where David leaned in close and surprised her with a kiss.

“He did it so smoothly I was like,

‘OK!’ ” she recalled.

But things stopped there. David, a native Texan escorted her back to her apartment like a “perfect gentleman,” a refreshing change from the finance bros and investment bankers she typically dated.

“He was like ‘Oh, my God, you’re so beautiful,’ ” Damire said. “I was so used to the New York aggressive player.”

David texted her asking for a tour of the city the next day. She showed him the 9/11 Memorial and they strolled hand-in-hand through Battery Park gazing at the Statue of Liberty in the distance. That night they set sail on a romantically rowdy party boat where they danced all night. “That was kind of our first date,” Damire said.

Wedding bells

When the sailor had to depart back to Norfolk, Va., three days after their first meeting, they texted non-stop, talking for hours. After just a few days apart, he drove to New York for a short visit.

Then, on June 24, he called her on the phone with a romantic proposal.

“He was like, ‘What if we get married?’ ” Damire said. “I was like, ‘Sure!’ ”

They eloped at a Virginia courthouse on July 2, 2008, and had a wedding ceremony in Puerto Rico with family and friends three years later. Now living in Jefferson, Ga., they have two children and will celebrate 14 years of marriage this summer.

“I watched the ‘Fleet Week’ episode of ‘Sex and the City,’ but I never imagined I would ever meet my husband during it,” Damire said.

LOVE IS FLEET-ING: Damire and David Winn (left and above) met during Fleet Week in 2008 and eloped. They now have two children, Link (above left) and Damire Zelda, and have been married for nearly 14 years.