Military reunions are the brightest spots in the extensive archive that is the internet. When family members tearfully embrace after long military tours, it’d be hard not to cry along with them.
Having your loved one in the services can be stressful; you never know when—or even if—they’re coming home.
Which only makes those surprises even sweeter when it happens.
Serviceman Jake Bunger wanted to surprise his two adopted daughters, Nataya and Liberty, at their last softball game of the season.
Nataya and Liberty played a ball game for the Lady Rascals Softball Team in Georgia, and since it was their last game, the players were allowed to dress up however they wanted. Many of the girls, including Nataya and Liberty, wore their best princess outfits. But that wasn’t what made the game special.
In over five months, the girls hadn’t seen their beloved father, who was on tour in Afghanistan for his 15th deployment.
The adorable athletes had no idea what was going to happen. Softball Coach Matt Still and the girls’ mother had been planning the reunion for a while. Coach Still led his team to the outfield as a crowd of fans gathered behind.
Meanwhile, Bunger was hiding over at the concession stand, waiting for the big moment.
“I could just imagine how heartbreaking that would be,” Still said in an interview with USA Today, “to miss birthdays, Christmasses, holidays and to not see your kids play in their very first game or a single sporting event for their first time, and it just broke my heart.”
Still would then direct the girls towards home plate, where their father was waiting. In footage captured by Still, he points back at the base and asks the girls, “Who is that back there at home plate?”
Even from a distance, Nataya and Liberty immediately recognized their dad and raced back to home plate screaming, “Daddy!”
Even the rest of the softball team of princesses were elated for the two girls, racing with them to show team solidarity. Fans and parents stood on either side leading to home plate, all of them holding an American flag as the girls tearfully embraced Bunger—to rapturous applause from the crowds and players alike.
Bunger himself was in tears, finally reunited with his little princesses. “When they cry ‘daddy’ and come running to me,” Bunger said in the USA Today video, “there’s nothing else in this world that’ll top that.”
This video was just one of several instances of emotional reunions. Love is a powerful emotion; it can leave us longing for our loved ones on the other side of the world to come home.
Reunion videos are inspiring, demonstrating the loyalty, joy, and unconditional love people express when those servicemen come back home. And of course, the video teaches us to value the time we have with our parents.
You can watch this heartwarming reunion for yourself below. Just grab a tissue first!
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