{"id":3212,"date":"2021-08-24T07:32:40","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T11:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=3212"},"modified":"2021-08-26T14:01:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T18:01:49","slug":"american-vet-returns-to-italy-to-greet-bambini-he-last-saw-in-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/24\/american-vet-returns-to-italy-to-greet-bambini-he-last-saw-in-1944\/","title":{"rendered":"American Vet Returns to Italy to Greet \u2018Bambini\u2019 He Last Saw in 1944"},"content":{"rendered":"

TheNewYorkTimes<\/a> \u2013 The daughter of a World War II veteran used the internet to track down three children he was photographed with 77 years ago \u2014 after almost firing on them. On Monday, they finally met face to face.<\/p>

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BOLOGNA, Italy \u2014 The last time Martin Adler saw the three Naldi siblings in person, it was during World War II in the central Italian village of Cassano di Monterenzio, some 40 kilometers south of Bologna, during an Allied offensive.<\/p>

Searching door-to-door for German soldiers in October, 1944, Mr. Adler, then a 20-year-old American private, and another soldier stumbled upon a large wicker container covered with a cloth in one house and were about to open fire after seeing it suddenly move.<\/p>

Mr. Adler hesitated and a woman burst into the room screaming: \u201cbambini, bambini\u201d \u2014 \u201cchildren, children\u201d \u2014 and two girls and a boy popped out of what turned out to be a cradle. The two American soldiers lowered their rifles and laughed in relief. A photograph of Mr. Alder with the children immortalized the encounter.<\/p>

On Monday, Mr. Adler, now 97, and the three Naldi \u201cbambini\u201d \u2014 Bruno, 83, Mafalda, 82, and Giuliana, 80 \u2014 met in person for the first time in 77 years at the Bologna airport, amid a boisterous scrum of local, national and international media.<\/p>

Wearing a T-shirt with the photograph of him with the three children, Mr. Adler handed each Naldi a chocolate bar and said: \u201cBambini.\u201d (If the Naldis, now grandparents and great-grandparents, objected to being called children, as they repeatedly were on Monday by just about everyone, they were too gracious to say).<\/p>

\u201cMy heart is bursting,\u201d said Mr. Adler. \u201cGrazie, grazie,\u201d he said, blowing kisses in front of a blown-up copy of the 1944 photograph.<\/p>

Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>

US WWII veteran reunites with Italians he saved as children<\/strong><\/p>

BOLOGNA, Italy (AP)<\/a> \u2014 For more than seven decades, Martin Adler treasured a black-and-white photo of himself as a young American soldier with a broad smile with three impeccably dressed Italian children he is credited with saving as the Nazis retreated northward in 1944. On Monday, the 97-year-old World War II veteran met the three siblings \u2014 now octogenarians themselves \u2014 in person for the first time since the war.<\/p>

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Adler held out his hand to grasp those of Bruno, Mafalda and Giuliana Naldi for the joyful reunion at Bologna\u2019s airport after a 20-hour journey from Boca Raton, Florida. Then, just as he did as a 20-year-old soldier in their village of Monterenzio, he handed out bars of American chocolate. \u201cLook at my smile,\u201d Adler said of the long-awaited in-person reunion, made possible by the reach of social media. It was a happy ending to a story that could easily have been a tragedy.<\/p>

Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>

Veteran, 96, finds Italian children he almost shot in war<\/strong><\/p>

TheTimes – An American Second World War veteran has been reunited with three Italian children whom he nearly shot in October 1944. Martin Adler, now 96, was advancing through the Apennine mountains in search of retreating Nazis when he and a fellow GI, John Bronsky, burst into a farmhouse in the hamlet of Monterenzio, near Bologna. The young soldier from the Bronx heard a noise coming from a wicker basket, suspected that Germans were hiding there and prepared to fire. Before he could pull the trigger, the children\u2019s mother burst in, shouting \u201cBambini! Bambini!\u201d Then Bruno, Mafalda and Giuliana Naldi, aged between three and six, emerged from the basket.<\/p>

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Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>

US ex-WWII soldier, 97, meets ex kids he snapped in 1944 Martin <\/a><\/strong><\/p>

ANSA<\/a> – Adler gives 80-year-old trio chocolate and a rose.<\/p>

A 97-year-old former WWIII American soldier on Monday met in Bologna the 80-something former children he photographed after nearly killing them near the Emilian capital in 1944. The man, Martin Adler, met Bruno, Mafalda and Giuliana Naldi at Bologna Airport, greeted them warmly from his wheelchair and brought them some chocolate and a rose, wearing a t-shirt saying “Martin’s bambini, forever kids”. The former United States soldier managed to make contact with the three children he nearly killed during World War II after a successful search via social media last year. Adler, a native of the Bronx, entered a house in Monterenzio, near Bologna, with a companion of the 339th Infantry Regiment during the Italian campaign in October 1944. Once inside they heard sounds coming from a basket and they were ready to shoot as they thought German soldiers were hiding there.<\/p>

Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>

Il soldato Usa, la linea Gotica e tre bimbi salvati: l’incontro dopo 77 anni <\/strong><\/p>

BolognaToday<\/a> – Martin Adler torna in italia per incontrare chi salv\u00f2 nell’ottobre ’44 a Monterenzio, in piena seconda guerra Mondiale.<\/p>

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Da protocollo, l’incontro dovrebbe tenersi al terminal Arrivi del Marconi di Bologna. Cos\u00ec, dopo 77 anni, l’ex soldato Usa Martin Adler si appresta a incontrare quei tre allora bambini (oggi nonni e bisnonni come lui), e cio\u00e8 Bruno, Mafalda e Giuliana Naldi, salvati e fotografati nel lontano ottobre ’44, nei dintorni di Monterenzio.<\/p>

L’appuntamento -e la storia che sta dietro- sono tutti come noto frutto di una fotografia e di uno scrittore -Matteo Incerti- che sulla vicenda ha anche scritto un libro  \u201cI bambini del soldato Martin\u201d (Corsiero editore) e che lo scorso Natale ha fatto il giro del mondo.<\/p>

E\u2019 stato proprio Incerti lo scorso dicembre a rilanciare l\u2019appello social della figlia dell\u2019ex soldato e contribuire al ritrovamento di quelli che il quasi centenario chiama scherzosamente \u201ci suoi bambini per sempre”.<\/p>

\u201cQuesta volta non preparo il mio zaino per andare in guerra ma una bella valigia per un viaggio di pace, solidariet\u00e0 e amicizia\u201d ha dichiarato Adler, che atterrer\u00e0 a Bologna alle 14.05 di luned\u00ec 23 agosto, proveniente da Miami. Di qui con un fitto programma, \u00e8 prevista la permanenza nell’appennino bolognese e toscano per alcuni giorni, poi Adler partir\u00e0 alla volta di Roma e Napoli, per altre tappe del suo viaggio fino alla ripartenza dalla Capitale il 4 settembre.<\/p>

Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>
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