84 years ago, a Chinese girl watched her family risk their lives to save an American airman. Today, at 94, she meets that airman’s granddaughter.

The reunion took place in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, where Timothy Sims traveled to meet Guan Dongxiang, whose family helped save Timothy’s grandfather during World War II. When they met, Sims knelt down to thank her.

The story begins in April 1942, when the United States launched the Doolittle Raid, a surprise air attack on Japan. During the mission, several American bomber crews ran low on fuel and were forced to bail out or crash-land in China.

One of them was the crew of aircraft No. 14, which came down near Guangfeng, in what is now Shangrao.

Guan Dongxiang was just nine years old. She witnessed her father, Guan Wenqing, and other local villagers shelter the American airman, at the risk of retaliation from Japanese forces, at a time when they were actively invading and devastating communities across China.

After the Doolittle Raid, Japanese forces launched a brutal campaign across eastern China, including the areas where the airmen had received help. The Chinese civilians paid a terrible price.

The airman survived and eventually returned to the United States. But the story of the people who saved him stayed with his family.

Now, more than eight decades later, his granddaughter has made the journey to find the Chinese family who helped him come home.

The girl who witnessed that rescue is now 94 years old. The airman she remembers is gone, but his family remembers; and has carried his gratitude across generations.