They were torn apart as children in WWII. When he saw his sister, he wept and let go of 80 years of pain

In a reunion eight decades in the making, a brother and sister separated as children during World War II found their way back to one another, thanks to a DNA match. In the late 1930s, Bill Stewart and his younger sister Beryl Stewart, 11 and 8 at the time, were living in an Adelaide orphanage when their mother passed away. Their father, Frank Stewart, was serving with the Merchant Navy and had planned to return to raise them, but in 1942, Frank’s ship, the SS Iron Crown, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the Victorian coast. For Bill, the news of his father's disappearance left a permanent mark.

"I cried. Thought I'd never see my dad again," he said. But the worst was yet to come. Soon after, the children’s grandmother informed Bill that Beryl had been chosen for adoption. "I realized I'd never see Beryl again and we cried our eyes out. Then I never saw Beryl again for 80 years." he said. The two lived separate lives from that day forward. Beryl had hoped to reconnect with her brother in time for her wedding, but no information surfaced. Bill eventually left Adelaide for Sydney, and both built families of their own, with the chances of reunion fading away.

But in 2019, a development changed everything. The CSIRO announced it had located the wreckage of the SS Iron Crown, 77 years after it was lost. For Bill’s granddaughter, Natalie Corbett Jones, the news reignited questions about their family’s past. "So that started the idea of, 'Let's look for Beryl again. We didn't even know at that point that she didn’t know her father was on that ship," she said. The search led to a DNA test, which matched Bill with Kylie Watson, a distant relative and amateur genealogist in Coffs Harbour. Kylie began combing through records and old photos, eventually identifying Beryl’s adopted surname: Johnson.

Bill and his granddaughter submitted a letter to the "Can We Help" section of a local paper. Beryl, who happened to see it, said, "And I thought, 'Wonder if it is me. It wouldn't hurt to make a phone call." She reached Kylie first, introducing herself. Kylie was stunned and asked if she was joking. Beryl replied, "Please don't tell me Billy is dead." When Kylie reassured her that Stewart was "truly alive," Beryl was overcome with emotion. "I broke down and she had to hang up because I couldn't speak to her," she recalled. When Beryl called again, it was Bill who answered. The siblings spoke for the first time in more than 80 years. Without hesitation, Bill boarded a flight to Adelaide. "And the next minute, the door opened and she came flying out, put her arms around me, we hugged each other and cried," he said.

The two have stayed in close contact since. "It's like we never ever lost each other. We are very close," Bill said. Beryl added, "It has filled the void that I've had all my life. And now that we have found one another, we will keep in touch and stay together as long as we’ve got," she shared. Viewers watching the story were as emotional about the reunion as Bill and Beryl were. @annasaddiction5129 wrote, "The fact they both lived 80 years to meet again... strong will and genes in them." @dommyschuuby3609 commented, "Siblings should be adopted together. Always." @wheredidthetimego8087 noted, "The pain they went through was terrible. Splitting up siblings is cruel."