Military Dad Surprises His Daughter at School in Centerville

CENTERVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Centerville sixth grader got the surprise of a lifetime today, when her dad popped walked into her classroom after he spent 9 months in Afghanistan.

Abby Wiggins just started the sixth grade this year, and just like her classmates, she’s working hard, figuring out problems in her computer class.

The Thomson Middle School student hasn’t seen her dad, U.S Army Specialist Jimmy Wiggins, in nine months.

He’s been stationed overseas in Afghanistan.

The two are very close and have been keeping in touch using Skype, but when they talk, the Internet connection hasn’t always been the greatest, so they haven’t had the opportunity to speak to each other as much as they would like to.

“It’s been a long deployment like I said, because we didn’t have R and R between the 9 months. Everyone was like oh nine months, its nothing…well it’s been something,” Wiggins said.

So as soon as Jimmy got off the plane, he wanted to see his little girl.

“You’ll probably see some more tears,” Wiggins said.

When he walked into Abby’s classroom,

Her mouth dropped.

A tearful reunion that the two had been waiting for, for almost a year.

“It was long and I’m very happy to be home and very happy to see my baby girl,” Wiggins said.

“My wife she wasn’t able to make it down, but she was at work and she was really excited and really happy to see me and she wishes she could have been here to be able to see her expression,” the veteran said.

Abby was excited to show him all of the work she’s been working on, as her family looked at her and her dad, with tears in their eyes.

Abby showed her dad off to some of her other teachers with a huge smile on her face. The two plan on spending the entire Labor Day weekend together.