WATCH! A World War II veteran reunites with Italians he saved as children

For more than seven decades, Martin Adler has treasured a photo of himself as a young American soldier with three Italian children he is credited with saving as the Nazis retreated in 1944. On Monday (August 23rd), the 97-year-old World War Two veteran reunited with the three siblings, who are now in their 80s, for the first time since the war. Adler met up with Bruno, Mafalda and Giuliana Naldi at the airport in Bologna after traveling from Boca Raton, Florida. Just as he did as a 20-year-old soldier, he gave them bars of chocolate. In 1944, Alder saw the children's' faces peeking out of a wicker basket where their mother had hidden them in the town of Monterenzio as soldiers approached. Adler thought the house was empty, so he was going to fire at the basket, thinking a German soldier was hiding inside. But their mother came out and stood in front of his gun, according to Adler, and repeatedly shouted, "Bambini!," which means "children," to keep him from shooting. Adler's company stayed in the village for a while, and he would come by and play with the children, who where ages three to six.