It was a scene that has played out on baseball fields, in classrooms and at workplaces around the nation in recent years. A mother and her children are going about their business — in this case at a Little League baseball game — when Dad walks up in his battle fatigues, freshly home from deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq, and surprises everyone.

When Army Maj. Richard Downs walked onto the Driver Sports Complex at 7:25 p.m. on Wednesday, his 11-year-old son Dominick was waiting his turn to take the pitcher’s mound, and his wife Ann and 6-year-old daughter Samantha were watching the game. Mother and daughter knew that Downs would be dropping by, but his appearance at the game was a complete surprise to Dominick.

With America’s War on Terror nearing its 12th anniversary, there have been many such reunions during the past decade as military men and women from around the nation complete deployments and return home to expectant families. YouTube is full of videos of those joyful reunions.

Sadly, there also have been far too many families filled with sorrow for having been denied the opportunity for any kind of reunion. Their situations feel even sadder in light of happy reconnections like that of the Downs family. For those watching that family come back together, the emotions of the evening must surely have taken a turn toward the bittersweet when they learned of little Samantha’s response when her mother had told her of Richard Downs’ return: “Mommy, Daddy is safe. He can’t die anymore.”

We share in the joy of the Downs family at the safe return of their father and husband. Thank you, sir, for your service, and thanks to all those military men and women fighting to keep America safe. Thanks to their families for the sacrifice they make. And thanks, especially, to those wives, children, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers whose loved ones didn’t return home safely. You’re all heroes in our book.