Positivity: Daughter and Iraq-soldier dad reunited at dance
From Keene, NH (HT Michelle Malkin):
Friday, Feb. 15, 2008
She hadn’t expected him home until April, but last night, Elizabeth Penn cried tears of joy as she embraced her father, David Penn, a New Hampshire Army National Guard soldier home from Iraq on a two-week leave.
A freshman at Keene State College, Elizabeth had just walked into a semi-formal dance at Holloway Hall when the song “Hero” by Mariah Carey started to play.
Her friends, who had all kept the secret for weeks, turned and looked toward the door. That’s when Elizabeth saw her father, dressed in fatigues, carrying a bouquet of flowers and a stuffed animal. The two embraced, and the tears started to flow as Elizabeth’s friends and family encircled them, capturing the moment forever on cameras and video.
“I’m just shocked,” said Elizabeth, wearing a black gown with rhinestones. “I don’t know what to say. I’m shaking.”
A Manchester resident, David Penn is a member of the Army National Guard’s 34th Rear Area Operations Center Unit, a security force of 30 soldiers currently stationed in Mosul in northern Iraq.
“I miss my family a lot,” said David, who was deployed last July and hasn’t seen his wife, daughter or twin sons since. “I miss my kids.”
“She’ll always be my little baby,” he said of his daughter. …..
Go here for the rest of the story.
