A soldier dad gave his son an incredible reunion surprise when he suddenly appeared from inside his school’s tiger mascot costume.
Sgt. Perry Chronister had been deployed in the Middle East as a member of the Ohio Army Nation Guard.
The separation was tough on Perry’s son, Eli, 7, as the Wi-Fi signal was bad in some of Perry’s locations, meaning the pair could not keep in regular video contact.
Perry, from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, wanted to plan a special reunion surprise for Eli to make up for lost time.
He contacted Eli’s school, DeWitt Elementary, and one of Eli’s teachers came up with the idea of having Perry enter the building disguised as the school’s mascot, Black Tiger.
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On August 18, Eli’s first day back at school after the summer, Perry entered his son’s classroom in a tiger costume, waving to the kids in Eli’s class.
Then, after the initial excitement, Perry removed the costume’s head and revealed the big surprise to his son.
Eli headed through the classroom and gave his dad a much-needed hug.
Over the days that followed, Perry and his family took a trip to catch up and spend some quality time together.
