Italian woman, 90, gets birthday cake 77 years after it was taken by liberators

Soldiers from US Army Garrison Italy return a birthday cake to Meri Mion, centre, in Vicenza, northern Italy (Laura Krieder/US Army/AP)

The US Army toasted an Italian woman with a birthday cake to replace the one that US soldiers ate as they entered her hometown during one of the final battles of the Second World War.

Meri Mion, who turns 90 on Friday, wiped away tears as she was presented with the cake during a ceremony in Vicenza, northwest of Venice.