David Winkelspecht was only 17 years old when he was forced to leave his family and pregnant girlfriend and serve in the army.
And while the young soldier was gone, his girlfriend gave birth to a boy named David Jr. Under the circumstances, he wasn’t able to be in his son’s life during the first stages.
The years passed, and by the time David Sr. left the army, he had lost contact with his family.
The fact that David had never got to meet his son left a hole in his heart that was impossible to fill.
But then after 28 years, David finally heard some incredible news.
David’s friend found his 28-year-old son on Facebook. He lived in San Diego, a good distance away from David, who lives in Las Vegas.
But David was determined to see his long-lost son, and set his mind to meeting him.
The only problem? Dad David lived in Las Vegas and son David lived in San Diego.
For a long time, David struggled to gather the funds he needed to get to San Diego. Dad’s financials weren’t quite in the best place for him to be traveling such a distance.
But then, he had his prayers answered when his friend got in touch with Fox5 Surprise Squad. Dad David had a bunch of things he was selling in his truck when he stopped for gas one day.
At the same time, the Surprise Squad was on a mission to surprise a random person with a good deed, and this particular episode involved finding someone to fill their tank up with gas.
The TV show let the audience decide via an app which car they should pick, and survey said the truck. David’s truck.
When the staff walked up to David and told him that they wanted to fill up his tank, he was so surprised and thankful.
David explained that he was traveling to San Diego to meet his son for the first time. Besides filling up the tank with gas, the TV team wanted to do something more.
The Surprise Squad also offered David $500 for the big occasion, and he lost it.
“Are you serious? There is a god,” an emotional David said.
But it didn’t stop there. The surprises were not over.
The Surprise Squad decided to step up even more.
When David told them that he was about to sell all the things in his trunk to make the reunion happen, the TV team offered him $1,000 for all of the items he was selling, which was above what it was worth.
The news anchor then invited David to come back to her show, right before he was supposed to make the trip to meet his son.
David had difficulty understanding why, he thought it was just to recap his story. But once again, the Surprise Squad is surprising left and right.
Check out who was waiting in the studio’s wings to meet David…
Sometimes life happens and families lose contact. But they also get back together, and it’s truly a wonderful thing to see!
I’m so happy for both of them and the extended family. I love happy endings. Now they can catch up and get to enjoy his grandchildren!
Share if you also think it’s fantastic that David never gave up on his son, even though it took him 28 long years to find him.