September 18, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
After spending ten months on deployment in Iraq, it was finally time for U.S. Army Guard Sergeant Jake Merriman to return home and he decided to make it extra special this morning (Wednesday) by surprising his children at school.
US Army Guard Sergeant Jake Merriman surprises his son from dwayne page on Vimeo.
The homecoming surprise was actually arranged by Sergeant Merriman’s wife Joyce who knew in advance that he would be arriving today but had not told their kids.
Still dressed in uniform, Sergeant Merriman made his first visit to his 12 year old daughter Hailee, a sixth grader at DeKalb Middle School. He arrived in a pickup truck escorted in parade fashion from DeKalb Market by the Smithville Police and Fire Departments. Hailee stood outside with other students as the motorcade pulled up in front of the school, unaware of the surprise awaiting her. After spotting her father, Hailee ran toward the truck to greet him.
Hailee later said in the beginning she wasn’t sure why the police and fire departments had come to school and speculated that it was to put on a safety education program.
About an hour later, Sergeant Merriman went to Northside Elementary School dressed as the school’s Eagle mascot to surprise his 10 year old son Austin, a fifth grader as he and other students were eating lunch in the cafeteria. After sitting down at the table beside Austin, Sergeant Merriman removed the Eagle mascot head and then father and son embraced with Austin’s mother and sister looking on.
An eleven year veteran of the service, Merriman began his military career in the US Marine Corps and later the U.S. Army.
During this deployment in Taji, Iraq, Sergeant Merriman was a Transportation NCO for the Area of Operations. His duties included overseeing the movement of equipment in and out of Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria.
Sergeant Merriman said it is great to be home again and especially with his family after ten months of being away from them.