US WWII Vet Reunites With Wartime Girlfriend in Australia

[misskit]

SYDNEY — 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 Thomas flew from Virginia to the southern Australian city of Adelaide to reconnect with his long-lost love.

"This is about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me," Thomas said, in a reunion broadcast on Channel 10's "The Project."

"Good," Morris replied with a laugh. "We're going to have a wonderful fortnight."

Morris was a 17-year-old British girl and Thomas was a 21-year-old paratrooper when they first met in London shortly before D-Day. After the war, he returned to the United States. The pair wrote letters to each other, and Thomas asked Morris to come to the United States to marry him. But somehow Morris misunderstood and thought he'd found someone else, so she stopped writing.



The two eventually married other people. Thomas' wife died in 2001; Morris divorced her husband after 30 years.

Last year, Morris asked one of her sons to look for Thomas online, and they found his name featured in an article about D-Day that ran in The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Thomas and Morris reconnected via Skype. After their story went public, hundreds of people made donations to help fund Thomas' trip to Australia from his hometown in Virginia Beach.

The two are planning to spend Valentine's Day together.

US WWII Vet Reunites With Wartime Girlfriend in Australia

[withnallstoke]

Bloody Yanks.

Still nicking our women.

[harrybarracuda]

Ahhh isn't that sweet.

I wonder if he brought his blue pills with him?

[NZdick1983]

Very touching story (I'm a romantic at heart 55)..

Good on them! we need more heart warming stuff like this... too many horrible things happening in the world... brilliant.

Happy V' day (for Sunday) everyone

[nora tittoff]

Used to be a saying about the yanks in Australia during WW2 when complaining about them cracking on to the aussie women.
They are overpaid
oversexed
and over here.

[kmart]

^Better than Tojo though, eh?

[sabang]

My cousin is a (Cold) war bride- met her husband, a USN officer, at a USAF base in Gloucestershire (wots with that?). She was not exactly an oil painting- and neither is he. As my Dad said at the time "I hope she can cook". Anyway, they've been married over 30 years now, have nice kids, and he retired recently as a Commodore. They live around Virginia Beach somewhere- that place must be so chock full of military & ex-military as to be infuriating. Happy story- even plain people can find lub.

[withnallstoke]

he retired recently as a Commodore.

Was he 64?

[patsycat]

Lionel Ritchie?

[sabang]

No idea. My cousin is late 50's. I don't know if he retired because he reached the age, or just decided to pack it in after a long career. He does some consulting now for a defence company in DC area, anyway.

^ Lionel is 66.

[harrybarracuda]

My aunt married a GI. And his name really was Joseph.

Now she's got this ghastly mid-Atlantic drawl.

[nidhogg]

Bloody Yanks.

Still nicking our women.






[

She is 88 years old. He can have her, i pass.........

[thaimeme]

^Better than Tojo though, eh?

Maybe not.
Difficult to ask: what if..

[BobR]

Appropriate music from Britain's finest hour.

[withnallstoke]

She is 88 years old. He can have her

She sure got a purty mouth though.