A 93-year-old World War II veteran from the United States embraced his wartime girlfriend in Australia in their reunion Wednesday after more than 70 years apart.
Norwood Thomas and 88-year-old Joyce Morris laughed as they wrapped their arms around each other after Mr. Thomas flew from Virginia to the southern Australian city of Adelaide to reconnect with his long-lost love.
Best moment of their lives
“This is about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me,” Mr. Thomas said, in a reunion broadcast on Channel 10’s “The Project.”
“Good,” Ms. Morris replied with a laugh. “We’re going to have a wonderful fortnight.”
Ms. Morris was a 17-year-old British girl and Mr. Thomas was a 21-year-old paratrooper when they first met in London shortly before D-Day. After the war, he returned to the U.S.
He wanted to marry her, but couldn’t
The pair wrote letters to each other, and Mr. Thomas asked Ms. Morris to come to the U.S. to marry him. But somehow Ms. Morris misunderstood and thought he’d found someone else, so she stopped writing.
The two eventually married other people. Mr. Thomas’ wife died in 2001; Ms. Morris divorced her husband after 30 years.
Last year, Ms. Morris asked one of her sons to look for Mr. Thomas online, and they found his name featured in an article about D-Day that ran in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.
Many donated for his trip
Mr. Thomas and Ms. Morris reconnected via Skype. After their story went public, hundreds of people made donations to help fund Mr. Thomas’ trip to Australia from his hometown in Virginia Beach.
The two are planning to spend Valentine’s Day together.
