Marine surprises daughter with early homecoming and a car in Evansville

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Rene Munoz has been an active-duty marine for around 19 years. On Friday, he made a surprise trip home to visit his daughter Alex Gill.

Gill said it’s been one year since they had last seen each other.

She and her mom had gone to Kenny Kent Chevrolet under false pretenses. She had been told they were there to pick up a car part for her mom’s Traverse.

When asked if that seemed like an exciting trip, she shrugged and told 14 News that she was excited to get dinner afterwards.

As Gill looked in the window of a Camaro, she saw her dad.

“It’s a different feeling,” she said. “Not a lot of people get that, but it’s exciting.”

As if that weren’t enough, they told Gill that the Camaro was going to be her first car.

“I thought I was going to get a Chevy Malibu,” she said. “This is special.”

She said she’s very excited to get to driving it when she turns 16 in November.

For now, she and her dad went out to dinner with her whole family.

Munoz said he’s going to be in town for the week. He said he’s looking forward to retiring next year and spending more time with his daughters.

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