heartwarming – Cincy Link

Iowa Mail carrier rescues woman who had fallen in freezing cold

cincylink — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 16:37:10 +0000

A LIFESAVING RESECU FROM THE COLD AND IT WAS CAUGHT ON CAMERA. STAC:EYN AAMAZING STORY. A MAIL CARRIER FOUND A WOMAN THAT HAD FALLEN ON THE SNOW AND ICE WHO COULD NOT GET BACK OUT. ANDREW MOLLENBECK SPOKE WITH THE MAN THAT CAME TO HER RESCUE. ANDREW: THIS WAS NOT EVEN HIS NORMAL ROUTE. HE FOUND THE WOMAN CAUGHT OUT IN THE COLD. THE WIND CHILL WAS ABOUT FIVE BELOW WHEN LINDA AND OUT TO GET THE MAIL WEESDNDAY. A SURVEILLANCE CAMERA MOUNTED ON THE GARAGE SHOWS THE MOMENT SHE SLIPPED AND FELL. AT WAS PAINFUL ENOUGH BUT THEN, SHE COULD NOT GET BACK OUT. >> I HAD MY RUBBER BOOTS, SNOW BOOTS, AND I COULD NOT GET THEM UNDERNEATH ME TO GET UP AGAIN. ANDREW: TEIM PASSED AND SO DID THE CARS ON INDIANOLA AVENUE. 19 MINUTES AND NO LPHE UNTIL CHRIS MEYER EVENTUALLY ARRIVED ON THE MAIL ROUTE. >> IT GOTOT THE POINT THAT I COULD NOT CRY, I WAS SO COLD. HETO SPPED AND PICKED ME UP. EVEN GETTING ME OMYN FEET, I WAS STILL WOBBLY FROM BEING COLD. ANDREW: THE VIDEO SHOWSIM H HELPING HER ALL THE WAY INTO THE HOUSE. NATURALLY HE EVEN BROUGHT IN THE MAIL THAT SHE DROPPED. >> IF IT WAS MY MOTHER OR MY GRANDMA, I WOULD WANT SOMEONE TO HELP HER OUT AND THERE WAS NO ONE THERE TO HELP HER. ANDREW: DRIVING THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOODS HE SEES A LOT BUT THE EVENTS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON STICK OUT TO HIM. >> I HAVE NEVER WITNESSED ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORE WHILE I WAS AT WORK. BUT I AM GLAD I WAS ABLE TO HELP HER OUT AND THAT SHE IS .OK ANDREW: WEN BOATWRIGHT ONLY FO UND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW AFTER HE SAW THE SURVEILLANCE VIDEO. >> A GOOD SAMARITAN STOPPED AND HELPED MY MOM AND SAVED HER LIFE. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM. ANEW:DR THE FAMILY WOULD LIKE TO SEE CHRIS MEYER GET RECOGNITION BUT FOR NOW, JUST A LOT OF THANKFULNESS. >> THANK YOU, THANK YOU, YOU ARE A GOOD SAMARITAN. ANDR:EW SHE SAYS SHE HAS NO

WATCH: Mail carrier rescues woman who had fallen in sub-zero temperatures

The woman struggled for 19 minutes to try to get up before a mail carrier helped carry her into the house.

The wind chill was 5 degrees below zero when Linda Houlton fell trying to get her mail, and for the next 19 minutes, she struggled to get back on her feet and out of the cold.Though the home sits along her busy street in Des Moines, Iowa, no one stopped to help until Chris Meyer pulled up in a mail truck. It was not his normal route. "We had a carrier that was gone that day, so I had a part of his route that I don't normally do," Meyer said.It turned out to be a serendipitous assignment. Security video from the home shows he lifted Houlton off the ground, carried her to the house and, on brand, retrieved the mail she had dropped in the fall. "If it was my mother or my grandma, I'd want someone to help her out, and there was no one there to help her," Meyer said. Houlton said she didn't know exactly how long she had been struggling alone until Meyer gave her the time. A timestamp on the security camera confirmed it was 19 minutes. "It got to a point, I couldn't cry," she said. "It was so cold that he stopped and picked me up, even to get me on my feet. And I was still wobbly from being cold."Despite the fall and time spent in the cold, Houlton has no lingering injuries. "I'm not going to go out and check mail in the wintertime anymore," she said with a chuckle. The family turns serious when recognizing Meyer's action. Wen Boatwright, Houlton's son-in-law, found out what happened by watching the security video. "Tears in the eyes. It was relief," he said. "A good Samaritan stopped and helped my mom. Saved her life. We need more people like him out there."The family hopes Meyer will get some kind of national recognition for the rescue. But until such a time, they're letting him know how they feel. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," Houlton said. "You're a very good Samaritan."

The wind chill was 5 degrees below zero when Linda Houlton fell trying to get her mail, and for the next 19 minutes, she struggled to get back on her feet and out of the cold.

Though the home sits along her busy street in Des Moines, Iowa, no one stopped to help until Chris Meyer pulled up in a mail truck. It was not his normal route.

"We had a carrier that was gone that day, so I had a part of his route that I don't normally do," Meyer said.

It turned out to be a serendipitous assignment.

Security video from the home shows he lifted Houlton off the ground, carried her to the house and, on brand, retrieved the mail she had dropped in the fall.

"If it was my mother or my grandma, I'd want someone to help her out, and there was no one there to help her," Meyer said.

Houlton said she didn't know exactly how long she had been struggling alone until Meyer gave her the time. A timestamp on the security camera confirmed it was 19 minutes.

"It got to a point, I couldn't cry," she said. "It was so cold that he stopped and picked me up, even to get me on my feet. And I was still wobbly from being cold."

Despite the fall and time spent in the cold, Houlton has no lingering injuries.

"I'm not going to go out and check mail in the wintertime anymore," she said with a chuckle.

The family turns serious when recognizing Meyer's action.

Wen Boatwright, Houlton's son-in-law, found out what happened by watching the security video.

"Tears in the eyes. It was relief," he said. "A good Samaritan stopped and helped my mom. Saved her life. We need more people like him out there."

The family hopes Meyer will get some kind of national recognition for the rescue. But until such a time, they're letting him know how they feel.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Houlton said. "You're a very good Samaritan."

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A 97-year-old World War II veteran reunited with Italians he saved as children

cincylink — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 04:08:15 +0000

For more than seven decades, Martin Adler treasured a back-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 — now octogenarians themselves — in person for the first time since the war. Adler held out his hand to grasp those of Bruno, Mafalda and Giuliana Naldi for the joyful reunion at Bologna's 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."Look at my smile," 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. The very first time the soldier and the children saw each other, in 1944, the three faces peeked out of a huge wicker basket where their mother had hidden them as soldiers approached. Adler thought the house was empty, so he trained his machine gun on the basket when he heard a sound, thinking a German soldier was hiding inside. "The mother, Mamma, came out and stood right in front of my gun to stop me (from) shooting," Adler recalled. "She put her stomach right against my gun, yelling, 'Bambinis! Bambinis! Bambinis!' pounding my chest," Adler recalled. "That was a real hero, the mother, not me. The mother was a real hero. Can you imagine you standing yourself in front of a gun and screaming 'Children! No!'" he said. Adler still trembles when he remembers that he was only seconds away from opening fire on the basket. And after all these decades, he still suffers nightmares from the war, said his daughter, Rachelle Donley. The children, aged 3 to 6 when they met, were a happy memory. His company stayed on in the village for a while and he would come by and play with them. Giuliana Naldi, the youngest, is the only one of the three with any recollection of the event. She recalls climbing out of the basket and seeing Adler and another U.S. soldier, who has since died."They were laughing," Naldi, now 80, remembers. "They were happy they didn't shoot." She, on the other hand, didn't quite comprehend the close call. "We weren't afraid for anything," she said. She also remembers the soldier's chocolate, which came in a blue and white wrapper. "We ate so much of that chocolate,'' she laughed.Donley decided during the COVID-19 lockdown to use social media to try to track down the children in the old black-and-white photo, starting with veterans' groups in North America.Eventually the photo was spotted by an Italian journalist who had written a book on World War II. He was able to track down Adler's regiment and where it had been stationed from a small detail in another photograph. The smiling photo was then published in a local newspaper, leading to the discovery of the identities of the three children, who by then were grandparents themselves. They shared a video reunion in December, and waited until the easing of pandemic travel rules made the trans-Atlantic trip possible."I am so happy and so proud of him. Because things could have been so different in just a second. Because he hesitated, there have been generations of people," Donley said. The serendipity isn't lost on Giuliana Naldi's 30-year-old granddaughter, Roberta Fontana, one of six children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who descended from the three children hidden in the wicker basket. "Knowing that Martin could have shot and that none of my family would exist is something very big," Fontana said. "It is very emotional."During his stay in Italy, Adler will spend some time in the village where he was stationed, before traveling on to Florence, Naples and Rome, where he hopes to meet Pope Francis."My dad really wants to meet the pope," Donley said. "He wants to share his message of peace and love. My dad is all about peace."

BOLOGNA, Italy —

On Monday, the 97-year-old World War II veteran met the three siblings — now octogenarians themselves — in person for the first time since the war.

Adler held out his hand to grasp those of Bruno, Mafalda and Giuliana Naldi for the joyful reunion at Bologna's 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.

"Look at my smile," 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.

The very first time the soldier and the children saw each other, in 1944, the three faces peeked out of a huge wicker basket where their mother had hidden them as soldiers approached. Adler thought the house was empty, so he trained his machine gun on the basket when he heard a sound, thinking a German soldier was hiding inside.

Antonio Calanni / AP Photo

Retired American soldier Martin Adler, right, is welcomed upon his arrival by Giulio Mafalda Giuliana Naldi that he saved during a WWII at Bologna’s airport, Italy, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021.

"The mother, Mamma, came out and stood right in front of my gun to stop me (from) shooting," Adler recalled. "She put her stomach right against my gun, yelling, 'Bambinis! Bambinis! Bambinis!' pounding my chest," Adler recalled.

"That was a real hero, the mother, not me. The mother was a real hero. Can you imagine you standing yourself in front of a gun and screaming 'Children! No!'" he said.

Adler still trembles when he remembers that he was only seconds away from opening fire on the basket. And after all these decades, he still suffers nightmares from the war, said his daughter, Rachelle Donley.

The children, aged 3 to 6 when they met, were a happy memory. His company stayed on in the village for a while and he would come by and play with them.

Giuliana Naldi, the youngest, is the only one of the three with any recollection of the event. She recalls climbing out of the basket and seeing Adler and another U.S. soldier, who has since died.

"They were laughing," Naldi, now 80, remembers. "They were happy they didn't shoot."

Antonio Calanni / AP Photo

Retired American soldier Martin Adler holds Giuliana Naldi’s hand that he saved during a WWII, at Bologna’s airport, Italy, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021.

She, on the other hand, didn't quite comprehend the close call.

"We weren't afraid for anything," she said.

She also remembers the soldier's chocolate, which came in a blue and white wrapper.

"We ate so much of that chocolate,'' she laughed.

Donley decided during the COVID-19 lockdown to use social media to try to track down the children in the old black-and-white photo, starting with veterans' groups in North America.

Eventually the photo was spotted by an Italian journalist who had written a book on World War II. He was able to track down Adler's regiment and where it had been stationed from a small detail in another photograph. The smiling photo was then published in a local newspaper, leading to the discovery of the identities of the three children, who by then were grandparents themselves.

They shared a video reunion in December, and waited until the easing of pandemic travel rules made the trans-Atlantic trip possible.

"I am so happy and so proud of him. Because things could have been so different in just a second. Because he hesitated, there have been generations of people," Donley said.

Antonio Calanni / AP Photo

Retired American soldier Martin Adler poses with Giulio, left, Mafalda, right, and Giuliana Naldi that he saved during a WWII at Bologna’s airport, Italy, Monday, Aug. 23, 2021.

The serendipity isn't lost on Giuliana Naldi's 30-year-old granddaughter, Roberta Fontana, one of six children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who descended from the three children hidden in the wicker basket.

"Knowing that Martin could have shot and that none of my family would exist is something very big," Fontana said. "It is very emotional."

During his stay in Italy, Adler will spend some time in the village where he was stationed, before traveling on to Florence, Naples and Rome, where he hopes to meet Pope Francis.

"My dad really wants to meet the pope," Donley said. "He wants to share his message of peace and love. My dad is all about peace."

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Couple has virtual wedding while groom recovers from COVID-19

cincylink — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 05:18:06 +0000

Couple has virtual wedding while groom recovers from COVID-19

Impromptu wedding held for couple recovering from COVID-19

heartwarming – Cincy Link

Iowa Mail carrier rescues woman who had fallen in freezing cold

A 97-year-old World War II veteran reunited with Italians he saved as children

Couple has virtual wedding while groom recovers from COVID-19

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