It was a reunion 75 years in the making for one 97-year-old World War II veteran and the French woman he loved way back when.

Back in 1944, KT Robbins was a 24-year-old U.S. soldier stationed in France. While he was there, he fell in love with an 18-year-old named Jeannine Pierson, but he lost contact with her after he left to fight on the Eastern Front and later returned to the States, according to Inside Edition.

Still, both Robbins and Pierson carried a torch for each other, one that lasted more than seven decades.

“When he left in the truck, I cried, of course, I was very sad,” Pierson told EuroNews. “I wish after the war he hadn’t returned to America.”

Robbins left France, but he kept Pierson’s photo with him, never expecting he’d see her again.

Robbins got his happy ending recently when he filmed a segment for the France 2 TV network about American veterans returning to the country for events commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

During the taping, Robbins mentioned Pierson and expressed a desire to meet her family and tell them how much she meant to him, figuring she probably wasn’t alive.

When Robbins got to France, the reporter had a surprise for him: Pierson was alive and excited to meet him.

As the video above shows, the young-at-heart couple had a heart-touching reunion before Robbins had to leave for a D-Day event.

But while he said goodbye, he promised it was only temporary and that he’d see her again.

“Jeannine, I love you girl,” he said, according to the Evening Standard.