Updated

A New Jersey newspaper has delivered on a promise that its forerunner made during World War II.

The Paterson Evening News said it would award a $500 war bond to the first Paterson soldier to set foot on German soil with the invading Allied Army.

The newspaper never did because it could not determine if Seymour Atkins or Sidney Bressler had the legitimate claim.

North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record and Herald News, presented a $500 check to Atkins on Wednesday. The Herald News is the descendent of the Paterson Evening News.

Atkins, who is now 87, was a radio operator with an engineer battalion that crossed into Germany in 1944. Bressler, who served in a tank, died in 2011.

Atkins tells the paper he was shocked to receive the money after more than 65 years.