VIDEO: Airman’s Surprise Homecoming

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI)- A West Point sirman gives his daughter the surprise of a lifetime.

The emotions were running high at West Point’s Central School today; and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

“I talked to her this morning before she went to school, and just kind of did the regular routine you know, I always been checking on her. I just told her to have a good day and that I would see her soon,” says Airforce Tech Sergeant Curtis Hudnell.

It was sooner than she could have ever imagined.

“I mean, I just thought it was gonna be a peaceful normal Friday,” says daughter Aniyah.

Instead, Sergeant Hudnell had other plans. Hudnell was deployed in Maryland for the past 6 months.

“It was hard, especially being a traditional family, we do day to day things, and then we have to pick up and go and deploy and do our job and you know do our part in the fight out there, so it’s hard being away from home, everybody has family’s back home that they’re worried about and thinking about but there’s things in front of us that we have to focus on,” says Sergeant Hudnell.

11-year old Aniyah is his pride and joy. Mother, Tiffany Hudnell, was the master behind the surprise.

“They have a very, very important, close knit bond, father daughter relationship. And you know I thank God that they have that because now in times like these we just need that bond between fathers and their daughters,” says Hudnell.

She says his parenting continued, even hundreds of miles away.

“We had the parent teacher conference for the report cards and he was wanting to be involved and so we tangoed so that he could FaceTime and be at the meeting as well,” says Hudnell.

Aniyah says she’ll cherish this day forever and is happy to share the moment with her classmates.

“To have them see that it’s been rough having him gone and the emotions it brings my class and my family all together,” says Aniyah.

This weekend it will be hard to separate this airman and his daughter, as they embrace new memories together.

“One thing he’s good at that I’m not so good at is fishing, he loves to show me worms and play with them and some more things we do is lay on the couch and watch TV, we’ll just hang out and go somewhere and do something. It’s just really fun having him around,” says Aniyah.

Hudnell says he’s home for good and there are no further deployments in his future.