Military dad surprises daughter at school

KATY, Texas – A Katy pre-schooler got quite a surprise Friday morning when her father unexpectedly walked into her Primrose school classroom.

Army National Guard Staff Sgt. John Trower hadn't seen his daughter Savannah, 4, since January, when he left for deployment in the Horn of Africa.

"It's just amazing," Trower said. "I don't know how else to put it. I hated being gone for so long, but today is perfect."

 Trower said this his third return home from deployment overseas and in total he estimates that he's been apart from his daughter for about half of her life.

"She looks bigger, taller," Trower said. "She just looks grown up to me."

But dad and daughter weren't the only ones exciting about the reunion.

"It's hard being married with your husband overseas and still being mom," Gretchen Trower said.  "It's a lot harder with a little one.  So every day (Savannah) would say, 'I miss my Daddy. Where's my Daddy?'"

John Trower doesn't know when or where he'll be deployed next, but he said he's going to relish every moment he can with the two ladies in his life.

"I think we're going to go eat and play in the playground," John Trower said. "She'll probably wear me out more than the military did."