75 Years Later, D-Day Veteran, 97 Reunites with Long-Lost Love, 92 from France

“Parting is such sweet sorrow,” yet reuniting after 75 years was joyous and bittersweet for two long-lost loves, U.S. Army veteran K.T. Robbins, 97, and Jeannine Pierson, 92, from France. The adorable pair fell in love back in 1944 when Robbins was fighting in northeastern France during World War II. Robbins was 24 and Pierson was 18.

Sadly, their romance had to come to an end when Robbins was transferred to fight on the Eastern Front. After the war, he returned to America after, got married to his wife, Lillian of 70 years until her death at 92 in 2015. Pierson (formerly Ganaye) also got married in 1949 and had five children with her husband, who also has passed away.

While Robbins held on to a black-and-white photograph of Pierson, he accepted the fact that he would never see her again. That was until there was a twist of fate 75 years later. A French TV station intervened, tracked down Pierson and set up an unforgettable reunion between the former loves. It was perfect timing as it was also right before the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy.

The adorable pair reunited at Pierson’s retirement home. When they saw each other, they embraced, kissed and gazed into each other’s eyes in utter disbelief and joy. “I always loved you. You never got out of my heart,” Robbins said. “He said he loves me,” Pierson said in French to reporters. “I understood that much.”