During the WW2, a young soldier from the US fell in love with an 18-year-old girl from France while he was stationed in the small town where she lived.
75 years later, KT Robbins who’s now 97, finally managed to reunite with the woman whose photo he kept by his side for more than half a century.
Robbins was 24 years old at the time and served in the US Army. This is when he first noticed Jeannine Ganaye, who’s now 92, in the north-east town of Briey in France in 1944.
The Not-so-Happy & Short Love Story of Jeannine & KT
At the time, Robbins was looking for someone to clean his clothes and Jeannine’s mother agreed to help.
The pair fell in love fast and two months later, Robbins said to Jeannine that he had to leave her town to go and fight against the Axis Powers at the Eastern Front.
He told her that maybe he’ll come back and take her; however, things didn’t turn out as they planned.
Jeannine remembers how much she cried when he left in a truck and was very sad. After the end of the war in 1945, Jeannine started to learn basic English phrases and hoped that KT will come back for her eventually.
But, he was enlisted in the 26th Infantry, First Division and later volunteered as a server in a bakery battalion and went back to America.
Robbins Gets Married in America
When he went back to America, he met and married with Lillian, his wife of 70 years and they worked together in a hardware store in Mississippi for 50 years.
She passed away back in 2015 when she was 92.
Jeannine also married in 1949 and gave birth to 5 children. She is also a widow.
However, despite a life far away from Jeannine, KT never forgot his French lover and kept her photo for decades.
He still had the photo when a group of French journalists approached him for a WW2 report in the US.
He showed them her photo and told them how he would like to go back to her town and find her family while visiting France for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
He thought she had passed away and that he won’t be able to see her.
However, the journalists helped him track down Jeannine. She lives in a retirement home, 27 miles away from the place where they first met.
They helped him arrange a meeting at the home and told the veteran that she’s alive and waiting for him.
A Heartwarming Reunion after so Long
When the day came, Robbins and Jeannine hugged right away and gazed into each other’s eyes with so much joy. Robbins told her how he always loved her and how she never left his heart.
Jeannine said that she understood that he loves her. He then showed her the photo of her he kept all of these years and told her ‘this is you’.
She was amazed and told him how she always thought of him and how he would come again.
The once-lovers spent several hours together before Robbins left to attend the veterans’ celebration.
Sources:
