Long-lost friends find each other after 74 years
Two friends and former teaching colleagues from Brittany who lost touch after World War II have found each other in the same care home, 74 years after they last spoke.
Pierre and Joseph, both 95 years old, are both residents of the same care home in Plérin, near Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany).
Pierre arrived first, and was pleasantly surprised to see his old friend move in, explains local newspaper Ouest-France.
Pierre said: “When you arrived on Thursday, I heard your name and I saw you come in. You haven’t changed, Joseph! Your face looks exactly the same.”
The two men first met in the 1940s, when they were both student teachers at a school in Saint-Brieuc, having trained at the same agricultural school in Rennes.
During World War II, both men witnessed the bombing of a nearby airfield in 1944, and the school principal advised all students and teachers to go home. Joseph walked back to Pontivy (Morbihan), while Pierre rode his bike back to Paimpol (Côtes-d'Armor).
After the war, the duo’s careers immediately took them in separate directions, and they both took jobs in local collèges in Brittany, without keeping in touch.
According to the pair, they did cross each other in the street in the 1960s while walking with bikes - and with each recognising the other - but did not manage to speak.
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Now living in the same home, they have reportedly been sharing memories and making up for over seven decades of lost time.
