With the advent of YouTube, homecoming videos have become a staple in the American media landscape. It seems that every few months, one goes viral. There are now thousands of surprise homecoming videos all over the internet. All of the videos have their own special stories—service members surprising their parents, siblings, best friends, fiances, and spouses. The set-up is always different (although many of them take place at sporting events and graduations) and the reaction from their loved ones is always varied.
Make sure you check out more homecoming videos at the Welcome Home Blog!
Here are 10 especially heartfelt ones:
What happens when a family takes a picture… and gets photobombed by their service member? You’ll want to watch this heart-warming video. It’s only about 50 seconds long and it is totally work-friendly.
As a proud alum of a high school and college marching band, I loved watching this particular video. After not seeing each other for two years, two brothers are reunited during a halftime performance. The pride that each brother has for the other is moving.
Perhaps the most touching video in this list, a son home early from Afghanistan surprises his dad during a meeting. I may have cried while watching… Okay, I definitely cried during the video. Make sure you watch the secretary’s reaction too. This entire video is just too cute for words.
And while you’re tearing up, just watch this one too. A soldier comes home early to surprise her dad on his birthday. The video has a pretty lengthy set up including a faked long distance call home, but the surprise begins at 1:20.
A Marine corporal drove all night to present his mother her college diploma, and her reaction is a thing of beauty.
After eight months of deployment, a mother surprises her son at a basketball game when he’s at the foul line. When he misses his shot…well, you’ll have to see it for yourself. It’s a poignant reminder of the tough sacrifices military families deal with on a daily basis.
It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing softball gear and a helmet when your dad comes home. You’ll jump into his arms. Watch a dad surprise his daughter while she’s up to bat after 9 months of deployment.
And if your Marine brother surprises you on graduation day, you rip your mortar board off so you can hug him. Start watching this video at 1:02.
There has to be a surprise homecoming and proposal video in the list. And it just had to be in front of Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World. Picture perfect.
And finally, this list wouldn’t be complete without a video of a surprise homecoming for a pet. That’s right—it’s apparently a thing. A soldier’s German Shepherd fetches a ball and brings it back to find his owner home from deployment.
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Jo is the author of Jo, My Gosh! a blog about her journey as a newlywed military wife. When she’s not working from home, she’s writing, reading, trying new recipes, watching sports or cross stitching. Catch her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook and say hi!
