For a moment, 94-year-old Theo Roeffen is just a disembodied voice down the line from the Netherlands, and then his face appears.
Mervyn Kersh, 95, greets Theo like an old friend - hello! The two men have never met but they are connected by the thread of shared history, and their dream of a corona-free world.
In June 1944, 19-year-old Mervyn took part in the D-Day landings, reaching Gold Beach in Normandy on Day three, losing nine out of ten of his comrades the same day.
The same year, 18-year-old Theo joined the Dutch Resistance, and was captured on his first operation by German troops. He later joined the Stoottroepen Regiment, made up of Resistance partisans joining up as their country was liberated, was injured by a landmine, and came