An Italian man, rescued as a young orphan in Italy during the Second World War, has come to Toronto to thank the families of the Canadian soldiers who saved him.

Four Canadian soldiers took Gino Farnetti-Bragaglia in and taught him English when they found him in 1944.

“They gave me food…. cared for me,” Farnetti-Bragaglia said.

He stayed with the four soldiers, Privates Lloyd ‘red’ Oliver, Paul Hagen, Mert Massey and Doug Walker, for a year until their departure after they’d found him a good home.

Although the men are no longer alive, decades later the rescued boy has come to Toronto a thankful man so to honour those soldiers.

Proceeds of the event held Friday evening in Toronto to honour those soldiers will be used to commission replicas of the Peace Through Valour Monument. They will be placed in Italian towns where the many Canadian Soldiers who died during the Second World War are buried.

Watch the video above to see Ivy Cuervo’s full story.