Iowa father dresses as school mascot to surprise sons after military deployment

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    NEWTON, Iowa (KCCI) — An Iowa man had a very special homecoming with his sons this month … on homecoming.

Sgt. 1st Class Cody Richards had been deployed in Romania with the U.S. Army for nine months. And, as far as his sons Jaiden and Sam knew, he wasn’t coming home for a few more weeks.

Richards shared the wrong return date with his boys so he could surprise them at Berg Middle School in Newton.

Richards dressed up as Big Red, the Cardinals’ mascot, and attended lunch at Berg as part of the school’s homecoming activities. Sitting with the boys, Richards took off the mascot head to reveal himself.

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