Local dad surprises family, makes it home in time for Veteran’s Day

November 12, 2018 5:17 pm

EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (WLNE) — A local dad deployed for the past year made it back home just in time for Veteran’s Day. He’s been a longtime fan of those emotional videos of soldiers reuniting with their families but never thought he’d have one of his own. Now he does.

Celia and Evelyn can’t get enough of their dad now that he’s home after 14 months in East Africa.

“It was a blur. I was just excited to be seeing everybody,” says Arthur DeFelice, who was deployed with the U.S. Navy.

DeFelice, his wife Shana and their 2 girls had been counting down the days so he wanted to make his big homecoming something special, surprising 4-year-old Celia at a Warwick dance studio.

“I ran to daddy,” she says.

Dance is one of the ways the girls stayed occupied while their dad was deployed.

“There were really good days and really, really tough days while Arthur was gone but I have 2 tough girls along with me and we did it. But I have to say, when they say it takes a village it does and we had quite the village,” says Shana DeFelice.

Arthur was home for a few weeks in June but missed the beginning of Shana’s pregnancy, birthdays and holidays. This Veteran’s Day he’s thinking more about the sacrifice his family made.

“How much my wife went through and did to give our girls as normal as possible a life and did a great job doing that. We thank veterans on Veteran’s Day a lot but I always think of the veteran’s families as well because they do a lot to support the service member,” he says.

That love caught on camera to watch over and over again.