Aussie love story from WWII immortalised in the war memorial
An Australian couple's love story that defied the odds of time and distance has been immortalised in the war memorial.
The Australian War Memorial is calling for volunteers to help transcribe thousands of love letters sent from soldiers in the war, to their loved ones back at home.
Launching on Valentine's Day, the project will see the digital release of hundreds of thousands of personal letters, diaries and other handwritten documents kept safe for decades.
Among those stories is the tale of Mac and Dot, two lovebirds separated by World War II.
Their love story began in 1939, when Mac was 17 and Dorothy was 14.
Dorothy - or as Mac referred to her, his Darling Dot - was forbidden to go on a date with Mac after her father refused to give his blessing.
"He kept on asking me to go out but my father wouldn't let me," Dorothy laughed as she told Ally Langdon on A Current Affair.
Mac was soon off to war, but his plan was always to return home to Dot.
"He said to me, 'When I come back home...Will you come out with me then?'" Dorothy reminisced.
"I said, 'Of course I will, Mac!' And then he gave me a kiss and went to war."
The young couple then continued to write each other letters every week for five long years, until Mac was captured by the German army and held as a prisoner of war.
Despite his capture, Mac held onto every letter Dot had ever written him, as he remained determined to get home to his beloved.
"I hated him being away, and when the letters came back oh gee they were wonderful," Dorothy said.
"A letter meant he was still alive, you see, so it was so exciting."
In April 1945, Dot received the best letter of all: Mac had escaped and was coming home.
"Hello my darling. What does one say in a moment such as this?" Dot wrote on April 30th 1945.
"I have butterflies in my stomach, love in my heart and few words that make sense in my mind. Well Mac, it's really coming at last. You're almost home".
And Mac wrote back to that, "Hello darling. I miss you more now than ever."
"Unfortunately I can't find a boat to take me back to you. If they don't hurry I guess I'll just have to pinch a rowing boat and see what I can do!"
When Mac returned home, he brought with him half a decade's worth of those love letters from Dot, as well as a portrait of himself painted by another prisoner of war.
It hangs proudly at the end of Dorothy's bed and is the first thing she sees when she wakes.
Now Robyn Van Dyke and Terrie-Anne Simmonds from the Australian War Memorial are sifting through thousands of donated love letters, including Mac's and Dorothy's.
"He not only managed to escape, but he managed to take all her letters with him and that blows me away because it's not a small amount of letters," Robyn said.
The team is looking for volunteers to help ensure those stories, and all that love, live forever.
Dorothy, who is now 101 years old, had more than 70 wonderful years with Mac before he died in 2014.
"He was nearly 90, you know. And me I just kept on going and going and going!" she said.
"He'd be up there watching every minute I bet. We had such fun. Oh dear we did have fun. We laughed a lot and we cried a lot."
"But we lived - and that was the main thing."
Image credits: A Current Affair