A U.S. Marine returning home from his active duty service surprised his eight-year-old brother in Oklahoma, all with their mother’s help.
Parker Perner, 23, saw his younger brother, Cash, for the first time in a year after returning home from his final stint in the Marines, the Daily Mail reported.
The Marine, who spent his two overseas deployments visiting multiple countries, decided to surprise his brother with a little help from Kim, their mother.
Kim told Cash he would receiving a surprise reward for excelling in school. Cash, who had a blindfold on, outstretched his hands waiting with bated breath for his surprise gift.
But what the eight-year-old did not know is that his older was creeping behind him in the background while holding onto his Marine’s cap.
When Kim said she was about to place her surprise in Cash’s hands, Parker dropped his hat in that same spot, according to the video footage of the surprise.
Once Cash took off the blindfold, he jumped in his brother’s arms to hug him.
“Parker and Cash are extremely close – they have always had a very special bond,” said Kim, who filmed the surprise homecoming at their Mounds, Oklahoma, residence.
“It’s always heart-breaking to see them say goodbye and so very heart-warming every time there was a reunion,” Kim added. “Cash was always too young to really understand why Parker had to leave and would be in tears.”
Other Marines have staged similar surprise homecomings for their family members. In 2015, a Marine who had been away for six months surprised his seventh-grade brother and caught the encounter on video.