An American World War II veteran who met his Australian girlfriend in 1944 was reunited with her last year when their sons set up Skype accounts so they could have a video chat. It had been 70 years since Norwood Thomas of the United States army met Joyce Durrant while he was stationed near London. The soldier had to leave his girlfriend when he traveled to France to participate in the Allied Forces' invasion of Normandy on D-Day.

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Thomas only dated Durrant for a short time, but he told CBS that he knew her long enough that he wanted to get married.  However, he was unable to say goodbye to her before he left for France.

Thomas returned to the state of Virginia after World War II. He mailed Durrant letters to convince her to travel to the U.S. to marry him. She was then training to become a registered nurse.

The WW2 veteran married another woman. After she died in 2001 he started to think about his wartime sweetheart.

Durrant had also married but was single again. Her son Rob helped her find Norwood by doing an online search for the American paratrooper from the 101st Airborne Division, according to CBC.

After their sons set up Skype accounts for 93-year-old Thomas and 88-year-old Durrant, on November 6 of last year they had a Skype video chat. It was their first face-to-face communication in over 70 years.

The talk lasted for almost two hours. Durrant has lost most of her vision, so Thomas informed her he was smiling.   

Thomas now lives in Virginia Beach. A resident there asked the WW2 veteran if she could set up a fundraising campaign for him, to pay for airfare to Australia so he could rendezvous with his sweetheart.

A GoFundMe campaign received nearly $7,500 from over 300 people. Meanwhile, some people mailed checks to Thomas' home, according to CBS4 Indianapolis.

However, Air New Zealand then volunteered to fly Thomas and his caretaker son Steve to Australia for free next month. Thomas is counting down the days until he will meet his wartime girlfriend, and has already planned the first thing he will do after meeting Durrant for the first time in 70 years. He will hug her.