PHOENIX — A pair of young US Marines returned home on Saturday for Christmas in the Valley after exchanging volunteer hours for plane tickets.
For the family of Private Daniel de Jesus Garcia, the wait could not be over soon enough.
De Jesus Garcia's mother says even though her son had been in North Carolina for a month and a half, the wait felt like three or four months.
It is a feeling that could warm even a Grinch’s heart. Even bystanders waiting for flights or baggage stopped to get a glimpse of the reuinion. And when that moment finally comes, there is nothing like it.
“Finally being back, being right here next to her, next to my sister as well, it’s awesome. There’s no feeling like this,” said De Jesus Garcia, a United States Marine.
“I’m ecstatic. I am very, very happy, I am overjoyed right now. I just want to go home and Christmas bake and do all of that with him,” said Jenna Maselli, the mother of PFC Michael Maselli.
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All of this is made possible thanks to the nonprofit Miles for Military, which helps active military members get travel deals in exchange for volunteer service.
Without it, Private First Class Michael Maselli and his pal Garcia might have spent the holidays elsewhere.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to come back. For sure. I wouldn’t have had the money to, but the 25 hours of community service and the donations to Miles for Military 100 percent is what got me here. 100 percent thank you to them,” said PFC Maselli.
It is a Marine Corps homecoming that is making it look a lot like Christmas.
