Naval Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Brown just returned from an eight-month deployment to the Persian Gulf where he gave support to fighter jets.

His daughter, Wren Brown, and her classmates were told that RTV6's cameras were in their classroom for another story.

Then her dad walked in, dressed in full uniform.

"How are you doing, princess? You remember me?" Brown asked as his daughter stared, eyes wide with excitement, and nodded. "Remember talking on the phone yesterday about how you were going to show me your LEGO friends? Can I have a big hug?"

Brown, his wife, Erin, and Wren all hugged and tears flowed.

Wren said she knew her dad would be coming home in August, but she didn't realize it was that time already.

"It's the first deployment we've been on since we've had Wren, so I needed it to be special for her," her mother said.

Now the family is looking forward to spending some quality time together.

"We're going to do some dinners, going to do some Conner Prairie," Joshua Brown said. "I hope I do everything I can for her. I want her life to be better than mine. That's my job."