Absence truly does makes the heart grow fonder.
In 1944 U.S. soldier K.T. Robbins met Jeannine Ganaye, according to France 24. He was stationed in northeastern France during World War II, but quickly had to leave her when he was assigned to the frontline.
For the next 75 years, Robbins, now 97, kept a photograph of her, and with the help from the French broadcaster, who interviewed him for a piece on WWII, they were able to reunite after all their years apart.
The outlet surprised Robbins with the news that he would be seeing 92-year-old Ganaye again. Camera crews were there as the two, who are now widowed, had an emotional embrace at her retirement home in Briey, France, just 40 miles away from where they first met.
When Robbins saw her, he showed her the photograph he still had. “I always loved you,” he said.
“You never got out of my heart.”
Ganaye told the news outlet in French that she “always thought about him” and thought that “maybe he was out there, that maybe he would come.”
Robbins was married for 70 years to his wife Lillian, who died in 2015, while Ganaye was married in 1949 and had five children before her husband died, Today reports.
While Robbins found happiness with someone else, he ruled out a reunion when they were younger because “when you get married, after that you can’t do it anymore.”
Ganaye recalled the moment 75 years ago when Robbins left in the truck, telling Today, “I cried, of course, I was very sad. I wish, after the war, he hadn’t returned to America.”
As Robbins recalled, “I told her maybe I’ll come back and take you, but it did not happen like that.”
The duo spent two hours together during their reunion and then said goodbye as Robbins made his way to the D-Day ceremony on June 6, according to Today.
The outlet reports they agreed to see each other again soon, with Robbins telling her, “Jeannine, I love you, girl.”
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