Heart-warming military homecoming surprise for students at River Bend Elementary School

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Lt. Col. Heath Phillips has served in the military for 22 years. He spent the last nine months in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of a NATO deployment with the U.S. Army National Guard.

Last week, he was welcomed home by students and staff at River Bend Elementary School.

“I was nervous because I haven’t seen these guys in nine months, and excited, and it was really good to see them,” Phillips said.

“Their excitement and enthusiasm when he walked through just melted my heart,” Blair Harper, River Bend’s Principal, said.

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