Wedding dress : Mrs V B Glover

Violet Lloyd married Alan Glover on 7 June 1941, just five days after he enlisted in the Second AIF. After a ten-day honeymoon Alan began basic training at Puckapunyal, Victoria. He was assigned to the 8th Division and embarked for Malaya on 30 July. It was to be the last time the couple saw each other.

They wrote each other regularly, exchanging several letters a week, until March 1942 when Violet’s letters began returning unopened. Alan had been captured by the Japanese that month, just after the fall of Singapore, but she did not receive official word that he was missing until 1 July. By then Alan was already dead. He had been one of eight Australians executed on 6 June 1942, after their escape attempt from a Burmese labour camp was betrayed. It was not until December 1944 that the story reached Australia, and Violet learned his fate.

Violet kept her wedding dress in its original box until her death in August 2003. She had never remarried.