MACON, Ga. — A joyous occasion became a nightmare for Marine Corps Reservist Sgt. Darnell Foster on Thursday when his surprise homecoming was not properly recorded.
Home early following a seven month deployment to Afghanistan, Foster was eager to see his daughters, Kylie, 9, and Denise, 7. He and his wife, Karen, went to the girls' end-of-year assembly at Hartley Elementary where administrators gave him the school's "Hank the Hawk" mascot suit as a disguise.
Once in costume, Foster burst onto the auditorium stage dancing to "Uptown Funk" and invited Kylie and Denise up to join him. When he pulled off his beak the girls were shocked to see their father and jumped into his arms, sobbing hysterically as the crowd exploded in applause.
While videoing the event on the couple's Nikon D800E, Karen noticed the view screen had suddenly gone blank. Frantically going through the memory card, she discovered the camera had malfunctioned and only caught the first eleven seconds of her husband doing the robot, prior to removing the costume head.
