WW2 Soldier and his French Lady Love Reunited after 75 Years of Falling In Love
In the midst of World War II, a young American soldier Robbins went head over heels in love with an 18-year-old French girl Jeannine Ganaye while he was stationed in her small hometown.
It was a ‘love in the first sight’ moment for the duo.
But barely two months later, Robbins was ordered to march to the Eastern Front to fight against the Axis Powers.
For the next 75 years, Robbins (now 97) kept a photograph of her. Now, with the help from the French broadcaster, who interviewed him for a piece on WWII, helped him to reunite with his love after all their years apart.
He told them: “I probably won’t see her. She is no doubt dead.”
Robbins showed them Jeannine’s photo and told them he would like to return to her village ‘to find her family’ while he was in France for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
However, the French journalists tracked her down and found that at 92 years old, she was still alive.
Robbins was a 24-year-old soldier in the US Army when he first laid his eyes on Jeannine Ganaye ( now 92) in the northeastern French town of Briey in 1944.
When the war came to an end, Robbins returned to America and married Lillian, his wife of 70 years, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 92.
And even though Jeannine hoped he would return, she too got married in 1949 and became mother to five children.
They finally met in France on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing with French TV crews there to film the scene as the two embraced for the first time in three-quarters of a century.
When Robbin saw her he said “I always loved you. You never got out of my heart.”
He then showed her a picture of her he had kept for all those years.
Jeannine had said: “When he left in the truck, I cried, of course, I was very sad. I wish after the war he hadn’t returned to America.”
Since the war, she learned some English, hoping that he would someday come back to her.
The two said goodbye again after spending a few hours together, with Robbins returning to the United States, but having shared an unforgettable moment 75 years in the making.
