After 54 Years, Joy Reclaims Her Lost Australia

The Age

Tuesday June 5, 2007

Mark Coultan, New York

JOY Shaddle remembers the day, 54 years ago, when she changed her citizenship.

She was in Peoria, Illinois, seven months pregnant with her third child, and near a group of Mexicans who were celebrating becoming American citizens.

But she wasn't so happy. "I stood there with tears flowing," she recalls.

She didn't want to give up her Australian citizenship, but she realised she had to, for the security of her children. If anything happened to her husband, she didn't know what would become of her and her children.

"It was a sad day . . . like saying goodbye to everything I'd ever known."

She met her future husband, Lloyd, during World War II, while he was on leave in Sydney. She was in the cafeteria of David Jones when he sat down next to her on the only stool available.

The waitress accidentally mixed up their orders. "We just smiled at each other. Otherwise we would never have met."

After 10 days' leave, the handsome American left, but over the next 21/2 years they continued to write to each other.

Eventually, Lloyd wrote: "The war is over, but I can't get you out of my mind. Would you marry me and be the mother of my children?"

After accepting his proposal, the young Australian travelled to New York to marry the man who had captured her heart.

They went to his home town of Forrest, 150 kilometres from Chicago, where she has lived ever since - the past decade as a widow. Joy was one of up to 15,000 Australians who wed US servicemen during World War II. In 1953, when she took US citizenship, Australian law dictated that she automatically renounced her Australian citizenship.

Australia changed its laws on dual citizenship some years ago, but there was still a requirement that anyone reclaiming citizenship had to undertake to return to Australia. However, this year the law was changed to allow Australians who lost their citizenship and continue to live overseas to reclaim it.

Joy, now 89, applied this year following an Anzac Day ceremony at the Australian embassy in Washington that honoured Australia's war brides.

When the mail arrived at her home on Saturday, it carried precious cargo: her Australian citizenship papers. "I opened it up . . . it took my breath away. At first I was laughing and then I was crying. I couldn't contain the joy. It is so precious."

© 2007 The Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home