An American D-Day veteran reunited with his long-lost French love, 75 years later

France 24

K.T. Robbins met Jeannine Pierson in 1944, when he was 24-year-old soldier and she was 18.
After 75 years, the pair was reunited when Robbins traveled to France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
"I’ve always thought of him, thinking maybe he’ll come," Pierson said.

An American D-Day veteran was reunited with his French love, 75 years after they first parted, USA Today reports.

K.T. Robbins kept a photo of the girl he met in the village of Briey in 1944. Jeannine Pierson, then Ganaye, was 18 when she met the Army veteran, who was 24 at the time.

"I think she loved me," Robbins, now in his late nineties, told television station France 2 during an interview. Travelling to France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Robbins said he hoped to track down Pierson’s family, the BBC reports. "For sure, I won’t ever get to see her. She’s probably gone now."

Robbins left Pierson when he was transferred east. "I told her, ‘Maybe I’ll come back and take you some time,’" he said. "But it didn’t happen." After the war, Robbins returned to the US, got married, and started a family. Pierson, too, married, and had five children.

After Robbins showed the photo of the young Pierson to France 2 journalists, they tracked her down — she was still alive, now 92, and living just 40 miles from the village where they had originally met.

Robbins reunited with his wartime love at Sainte Famille, her retirement home in the town of Montigny-les-Metz.

"I’ve always thought of him, thinking maybe he’ll come," Pierson said. And, 75 years later, he did.

"I’ve always loved you. I’ve always loved you. You never got out of my heart," Robbins told Pierson upon their reunion.

The two sat together and told reporters about the time they spend together so many years ago.

"When he left in the truck I cried, of course, I was very sad,” Pierson told reporters. "I wish, after the war, he hadn’t returned to America." She also started to learn English after World War II, in hopes Robbins would return.

"I was wondering, ‘Where is he? Will he come back?’ I always wondered," Pierson said.

"You know, when you get married, after that you can’t do it anymore,” Robbins said about returning to find Peirson earlier. Robbins’ wife, Lillian, died in 2015.

While the two had to part again — Robbins left for Normandy to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion — they promised to meet again soon.