Specialist Dale Legg surprises his daughter Alice Legg at Kensington Intermediate School after coming home on leave from Iraq. Her class had sent his unit gift bags during the holidays. (Photo courtesy of Nancy Bondy)

Students get surprise visit from returning dad
By Allison Pritchard
Rocky River
Published May 6, 2009

Alice Legg thought she was going to a regular fifth-grade assembly. Instead, she got a very special surprise when her father, Army Medical Specialist Dale Legg, who just got back from Iraq, suddenly appeared April 28 at around 2:15 p.m.

“There was not a dry eye in the room,” teacher Linda Rocco said.

The Kensington Intermediate students, who had sent gift bags for Legg’s unit in December, gathered in the cafeteria, Rocco said. None of them, including his daughter, knew he was here, she said. “He had just arrived home. She did not even know he was in the states,” she said.

“We began talking about activities we had done during the year, and when the gift bags were brought up, he appeared. Alice screamed ‘Daddy’ and flew into his arms,” Rocco said.

“I can’t begin to tell you how impressed the 100 fifth-graders were,” she said.

A group of Kensington fifth-grade students, under the direction of Rocco, had adopted Dental Health Unit 360 during the holiday season. They made 120 red, white, and blue gift bags and filled them with cards, stationery, mints and other items and sent them over to Legg’s unit, said Dianna Foley, communications specialist for the school district.

With the help of other fifth-grade teachers, Angela Kolocouris, Beth Gallagher, and Monica Quigley, three classes collected the supplies and wrote letters to the soldiers, Rocco said. Items were shipped around Christmas, she said.

Rocco came up with idea of making the bags to help support Legg’s daughter, she said. “Last fall we knew he was heading back for another tour, and also knew that Alice had a really hard time the last time he was deployed. We decided that the gift bags for his troop would not only be a great way for us to support the troops, but also would show Alice the support of her teachers and classmates,” Rocco said.

The specialist surprised the students by presenting them with the certificate of thanks and the flag that flew in a mission in Iraq (now on display in the school display case), Rocco said. He explained that these were the first gifts his entire company had received and told the kids how much it meant to all the soldiers, she added.

Legg, a member of US Army Dental Health Unit 360, is a dental assistant, Foley said. He is on leave from his second tour of duty in Iraq.

Legg will be home for a few weeks before rejoining his unit, Foley said.