It’s a love story as touching as it is unlikely.
In May 1941, Ned Nathan was a member of the New Zealand contingent of troops that fought a fierce battle against the Nazis with Australian and British forces on the Greek island of Crete.
Part of the 28th Māori battalion, Ned was badly hurt twice during the fighting, and like many allied soldiers, forced to go into hiding to escape the Nazis.
After being injured in the hip and face by machine-gun fire, a weary Ned found his way to the small village of Sklaropoula.
It was there he found a secret refuge with the family of a local priest, Alexandros Torakis, and fell in love with his daughter, Katina.
A photo of Māori man Ned Nathan in his army uniform Source: Supplied
Within four years, they would marry.
"Dad spent the next year going from Cretian village to village, cave to cave, and occasionally spending time at Mum's village until the winter of 1941,” the pair’s youngest son Evan told SBS News.
“Because Mum's village was above the snowline, the Germans were not that keen on having patrols in the middle of winter, so they were relatively safe.
“Dad and another New Zealander, who was also a fugitive at the time, were sheltered by mum's family. And at one point he told [the other New Zealander]: 'I've seen the girl I want to marry.'”
Luckily for Ned, the feeling was mutual.
Katina was a teacher and spent the winter months helping Ned to learn Greek.
Ned Nathan and Katina Torakis together in Athens, 1945. Source: Supplied
Greece back then was steeped in traditions that were thousands of years old, and the daughter of a priest would have been expected to marry a local.
And war would get in the way of the blossoming romance.
Ned was eventually captured by the Germans, and like thousands of Anzacs, ended up in a camp for prisoners of war in 1942.
But before his internment in Germany, he was able to sneak a note to Katina saying he would come back after the war. And that he did.
“He was [in Germany] until 1944 and he managed to get onto a Greek boat that was heading back to Crete,” Evan said.
“He hitched a ride and … went back to the village, not knowing whether mum was going to be waiting for him or anything. He just went there on spec and the rest is just history.”
The couple married in a church in Sklaropoula within a year and later moved to New Zealand together.
Ned and Katina with their three sons in Wellington, 1953 Source: Supplied
They had three sons and remained together until Ned's death in 1987. He was 68.
Ned and Katina Torakis. Source: Supplied
'It wasn't time to go yet'
The Battle of Crete began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany began an airborne invasion of Crete.
They met fierce resistance from Greek, Anzac and British troops attempting to stop Adolf Hitler's regime from taking over yet another part of Europe.
The Australians helped inflict heavy losses on the Germans. But after gaining control of an airfield they eventually overwhelmed the defenders, which led to the evacuation of most of the allied forces.
About 6,500 Australians were sent to Crete, 270 of whom died. Countless others were injured.
Among the Australians in Crete was Alf Carpenter, a young Regimental Sergeant Major of the 2/4th Australian Infantry Battalion, who is now among the last surviving Anzacs from the nearly two-week battle.
“We were used to fighting soldiers on the ground level and when they came from the air it was a different kettle of fish altogether because they dropped right on top of our positions,” Alf, now 104, told SBS News.
Veteran Alf Carpenter, right, fought in the Battle of Crete in 1941. Source: Supplied
“There were about 1,000 who dropped out of every troop carrier that came along, but there weren't too many of those from the German army alive without having some lead in them from the Australian troops.”
Alf said he watched on as the Germans obliterated Crete's largest city, Iraklion, in “one day of incessant bombing”.
“The Stuka bomber [aircraft] came in and they bombed the township. Because the residents were assisting us and not assisting the German paratroopers, they ruined the whole of the city of Iraklion.”
After leaving the army, Alf got married, had children, and took on work in different areas of society.
Iraklion in Crete following the German bombing in 1941. Source: Getty-Ullstein Bild Dtl
He had a stroke a few years ago and now lives in a home in Newcastle, New South Wales. But, he says, the stroke hasn’t fazed him and he’s going to continue to live his life to the fullest.
“I passed away for about 15 minutes and they had the undertakers up to see what size coffin I needed, and I started to come good again. I must’ve thought it wasn’t time to go yet,” he said.
“And here I am here now at the nursing home. I’ve got a lovely unit here of my own and I am here until I am carried out feet first.”
