KarunaNews Story

With a round of "Happy Birthday" in Italian and English, the U.S. Army toasted an Italian woman with a birthday cake to replace one that soldiers had eaten as they entered her hometown in World War II. Meri Mion, who turns 90 this week, wiped away tears as she was presented with the cake during a ceremony in Vicenza, northwest of Venice. The event marked the anniversary of the day the 88th Infantry Division fought its way into the city on April 28, 1945. Mion seemed genuinely surprised that U.S. soldiers returned her birthday cake 77 years later. She turned 13 the time soldiers gobbled it up.She marveled "Mama mia" and "Grazie" as a small crowd of U.S. commanders and Italian officials sang Happy Birthday. "Tomorrow, we will eat that dessert, with my family all remembering this wonderful day that I will never forget," Mion said.