GA Students, Soldier Meet After Becoming Pen Pals 13 Years Ago

GEORGIA — Students at a south Georgia school received the surprise of a lifetime when they met the soldier they had become pen pals with 13 years ago when he showed up to the school.

Senior students at the private David Emanuel Academy in Stillmore, Georgia, were surprised Oct. 18 when Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Buggs showed up to the school on Senior Day.

"Years ago (when they were kindergartners at the school), these children formed a special bond through pen pal letters to then-Major Buggs," the school wrote on Facebook. "Their kind gesture formed a special bond that is still remembered fondly to this day."

That bond led to Buggs' surprise visit.

"The children enjoyed hearing how their simple gestures years ago impacted a life in such a big way," the school's Facebook post said. "What a treat to have Gen. Buggs reminisce fondly of a special time for all of them. Small gestures of kindness really do impact in mighty ways!"

Buggs, who drove six hours from Tampa, Florida, was deployed in Iraq when he became pen pals with the students, WSB-TV reported.

"It was a great relief for me to say thank you," Buggs told "Good Morning America." "Everyone is always saying thank you to me for my service but it meant more for me to be able to say thank you to them."

Buggs kept in touch with his alma mater, Georgia Southern University, "to help maintain a sense of normalcy while he was deployed, asking about how the football team was doing and what was happening on campus," WSB-TV said.

A woman in the alumni office asked if he'd be interested in taking a photo with a gingerbread man because the students in her niece's class at David Emanuel were studying world geography. He did more than that, writing a story about the gingerbread man that the students loved.

The class and Buggs stayed in contact, with him flying flags for the students in Iraq and sending gifts from where he was stationed. It eventually led to the pen pal program.

"They were just probably doing a school project, but it meant so much to me," Buggs said. "When you’re sitting in your (bunker) by yourself and you’ve been deployed a few months and the loneliness is there, the letters from home, you get them and it changes your perspective of what you’re dealing with. Your mind forgets what’s going on around you and have tunnel vision going through these letters."

After Buggs served in the military for nearly three decades, he tried for several years to meet the students, but said the timing never worked out, WSB-TV reported.

That is until he was traveling to alumni weekend at Georgia Southern, when he decided to make a pit stop to meet the students.

"I was so surprised that he came back to see us," said one of the students, Boslie Boots, 17. "I did not think I would have such an impact on a person but it was so special to hear about how we’ve helped him over the years."

"For me it was like everything from that time period when I was deployed came back in an emotional rush, the missions we were going through and them writing me," Buggs said. "I had a surreal moment of remembering the stressful times and how humble and happy I was to get a letter from them.

"American kindness is I think one of the greatest things we have in our country and it’s not spoken enough of the small things that people do to make a difference in other people’s lives. Everybody can make an impact and do something positive."