US WWII vet reunites with wartime girlfriend in Australia

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SYDNEY (AP) – A World War II veteran has reunited with his wartime girlfriend after more than 70 years apart.

Nine-three-year-old Norwood Thomas flew from Virginia to Australia to meet Joyce Morris, who’s now 88.

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 U.S. The two wrote letters to each other, and Thomas asked Morris to come to the U.S. 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. They reconnected via Skype.

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

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