Aussie love story from WWII immortalised in the war memorial
<p>An Australian couple's love story that defied the odds of time and distance has been immortalised in the war memorial.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Among those stories is the tale of Mac and Dot, two lovebirds separated by World War II. </p>
<p>Their love story began in 1939, when Mac was 17 and Dorothy was 14. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>"He kept on asking me to go out but my father wouldn't let me," Dorothy laughed as she told Ally Langdon on <em>A Current Affair</em>. </p>
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<p>Mac was soon off to war, but his plan was always to return home to Dot. </p>
<p>"He said to me, 'When I come back home...Will you come out with me then?'" Dorothy reminisced.</p>
<p>"I said, 'Of course I will, Mac!' And then he gave me a kiss and went to war."</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Despite his capture, Mac held onto every letter Dot had ever written him, as he remained determined to get home to his beloved. </p>
<p>"I hated him being away, and when the letters came back oh gee they were wonderful," Dorothy said.</p>
<p>"A letter meant he was still alive, you see, so it was so exciting."</p>
<p>In April 1945, Dot received the best letter of all: Mac had escaped and was coming home. </p>
<p>"Hello my darling. What does one say in a moment such as this?" Dot wrote on April 30th 1945.</p>
<p>"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". </p>
<p>And Mac wrote back to that, "Hello darling. I miss you more now than ever."</p>
<p>"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!" </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>It hangs proudly at the end of Dorothy's bed and is the first thing she sees when she wakes.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>The team is looking for <a href="https://transcribe.awm.gov.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">volunteers</a> to help ensure those stories, and all that love, live forever.</p>
<p>Dorothy, who is now 101 years old, had more than 70 wonderful years with Mac before he died in 2014. </p>
<p>"He was nearly 90, you know. And me I just kept on going and going and going!" she said.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>"But we lived - and that was the main thing."</p>
<p><em>Image credits: A Current Affair </em></p>
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