They say you never forget your first true love, and that certainly applies to Army veteran K.T. Robbins. In 1944, when stationed in northeastern France during World War II, K.T., then 24, fell in love with 18-year-old French girl Jeannine Ganaye.
After 75 years, they finally met again and told each other that their love had never faded.
K.T fell in love with Jeannine while fighting in northern France. Shortly after meeting her, he was compelled to say a quick goodbye before being moved to fight on the Eastern Front.
He promised her he’d come back and get her, but circumstances forced him to return to America and resume his life. He just had a black-and-white image to remember her by.Jeannine Ganaye, now Pierson, moved on with her life while secretly hoping her true love would return; she even took English lessons in preparation.
But after 75 years the two were finally reunited and it was clear from their reunion that their love for each other had never faded.
A French television station flew K.T. to France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy.
‘You never got out of my heart’
On the plane over, K.T., now 97 years old, is told that they had found Jeannine and he was going to meet the 92-year-old in her French retirement home.
“I always loved you,” K.T. told her in their emotional reunion. “You never got out of my heart.”
“He said he loves me…I understood that much,” Jeannine said in French to reporters, according to TODAY.