WWII veteran Norvyn Stevens receives 12-year-old’s beautiful Anzac Day picture

THIS beautifully drawn picture conveys the emotion and love that is the Anzac spirit. The story of how it came to be sketched and find its way to Adelaide is even sweeter.

WWII veteran Norvyn Stevens (96) with great-granddaugher Mikala Mars. STORY: A 12-year-old talented artist from NSW found a picture of Adelaide war vet Norvyn Stevens, 96, and his great grand-daughter Mikala Mars taken two years ago on an Anzac day. She has painted the picture. Pic: Tricia Watkinson.

THIS beautifully drawn picture conveys the emotion and love that is the Anzac spirit.

The story of how it came to be sketched and find its way to Adelaide is even sweeter.

Budding artist Marium El-Hajj, 12, of Arncliffe in New South Wales, searched the internet to find a picture to paint in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

She came across a photo of Norvyn Stevens, 95, a World War II veteran and prisoner of war, and his great-granddaughter Mikala Mars, 12, taken by The Advertiser at the Anzac Day march two years ago.

After completing the painting, drawn with charcoal and soft pastels, Marium wanted to get a copy of her picture to Mr Stevens.

She enlisted the help of The Advertiser to help track the veteran down and this week the picture was presented to him.

The original picture of Mr Stevens and Mikala. Picture: Mark Brake

“I’m glad that he got to see it because I wanted him to be alive and I think it would be special to him and his family,” Marium said.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Mr Stevens, of Paradise, said upon receiving the drawing.

A member of the 2/3rd Australian Machine Gun Battalion, Mr Stevens was posted to the Middle East in May 1941.

On March 9, 1942, he was captured by the Japanese off the coast of Java on his way back to Australia and was not freed until the end of the war in 1945.

During that time, Mr Stevens worked as a slave on the Burma Railway and later in a coal mine in Japan alongside his mates, many of whom did not make it home.

Norvyn Stevens, third row, far left, with fellow POWs in the camp in Ohama, Japan, September 1945.

As Australia celebrates 100 years of Anzac this year, Mr Stevens said he is here to remember the fallen.

“I’m not doing this (Anzac Day march) for myself — it’s for my mates that didn’t make it,” he said.

No one is prouder of him than his great-granddaughter Mikala, who has not missed a march since she was born.

“I’m really proud to be able to call myself his great granddaughter,” she said.

“I get comments from friends at school that I’m really lucky to have him in my life.

“I want to be someone like him that can sacrifice everything for his country and people he might not even know.”

Originally published as WWII veteran Norvyn Stevens receives 12-year-old’s beautiful Anzac Day picture