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Almost 76 years later, 96-year-old Martin Adler, a World War II soldier in Italy, got to know the three young children he was about to shoot during a military operation in 1944.
On Sunday night, Martín, who lives in Florida, spoke with Bruno, Maffalda and Juliana Naldi, who were then 7, 6 and 3 years old respectively when they met during World War II in the town of Monterencio. , near Bologna.
“It is a beautiful story that has attracted a lot of interest,” said Italian Matteo Inserti, who has published many books on such World War II meetings.
He posted the search for the former US soldier on his Facebook page last Thursday. And three days later, the brothers were talking to the veteran on the phone from a small town not far from his childhood town.
In an interview with the soldier’s daughter and this Italian writer, Martin Adler recalls in great detail that fall of 1944 when he was with another soldier, John Bronski:
“There was a dead silence, we did not know if the Germans had really withdrawn or if they were secretly waiting for us to catch us.”
“We went into the house. There was a big basket with strange noises coming from.” John and I already had our finger on the trigger ready to fire, it could have been Germans, “he said.
“Bambini, bambini!” (Children, children) suddenly shouted an Italian mother. Then her three children came out of the basket.
The soldier died on the spot taking a photo with the three children. Earlier, their mother asked them to wear their best clothes.
“It was the happiest moment of my life from this war hell,” said Martin Adler, whose daughter Russell first posted the old photo on an American Veterans website in hopes of locating the children, although her father did not. remembered exactly the city.
Adler’s call was broadcast in Italy and published in local newspapers on Saturday.
“The sweater I’m wearing in the photo was made by my mother. When I saw the photo, I immediately said ‘I am’,” Bruno, the oldest of the three brothers, now 83, told Italian television station TG1. .
“Ciao bambini!” (Hi guys) Martin Adler yelled into the phone on Sunday. “I am Maffalda,” replied the 82-year-old woman wearing a mask from the other end of the line.
“It seems to me that I can still see this basket in front of me,” said the youngest of the three brothers, Juliana, now 79 years old.
Martin Adler landed in Naples in March 1944 and fought in Italy until 1945.
With information from AFP / ΑΠΕ
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