Photo By Senior Chief Petty Officer Molly Burgess | Fire Controlman 1st Class Chad Chambers holds his daughter, Kara, after surprising her...... read more read more
Subscribe
NORFOLK, Va. - So what do you want from Santa this Christmas? That was the question of the night at the MacArthur Center on Dec. 13, as a long line of children waited to sit next to Santa Claus and whisper their wishes of what they hope to appear under the tree on Christmas morning.
Dolls, trucks, G.I. Joe’s and Barbie’s were the talk of the town for many of the children, but for five little girls, their wishes were different than the rest.
All dressed in red shirts with a picture of a reindeer and personalized with their name on the shirt, the five sisters came to see Santa with one wish – for Santa to bring home their dad for Christmas.
Fire Controlman 1st Class Chad Chambers has been deployed onboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) since the ship left from its homeport of Norfolk in August. Since his departure, his wife, Kim, and five daughters ranging from age 7 to 11 months old, Kara, Allie, Hollee, Megan and Britton, who is the youngest, have been waiting for him to return.
As the five sisters sat next to Santa, all with closed eyes and wished in unison for Santa to bring their dad home for Christmas, Chambers emerged from around the corner to greet them, surprising them of his return.
“I think they are all still in a state of shock,” Chambers said. “This is the best Christmas wish I could ever ask for.”
Tears, smiles, bear hugs and joy were exchanged as each little girl ran into Chambers’ arms with excitement to see their wish come true.
Chambers returned from deployment early as he transfers from Stout to a shore command where he says he will retire in three years.
“When I’m away, I miss them a whole lot,” Chambers said about when he is deployed. “I was talking with my 3-year-old this morning on the phone while in Greece, and told her I had to go, and she started crying saying “daddy don’t go,” but she didn’t know.”
For his wife, it is a sigh of relief to see him home.
“It’s so surreal,” she said. “Our whole life has been good bye, and we get a hello, and we don’t have to say good bye anymore.”
Chambers and his wife married in 1998, and according to Kim, their lives changed dramatically after 9/11.
“Our whole world was flipped upside down, and it’s just been go, go, go ever since,” she said. “He’s been at sea for 12 out of the 15 years we’ve been married. It’s been tough.”
But when Chambers is deployed, Kim says that she has a support system to help her out.
“Like every navy spouse, we have each other, and that’s what you kind of use to get through it,” Kim said. “But it’s so nice to have him home.”
Knowing that this may be her husband’s final deployment, Kim said it is what she and the family have been waiting for.
“It’s like piece,” she said. “Like 16 years of needed piece.”
| Date Taken: | 12.13.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 12.18.2013 09:49 |
| Story ID: | 118375 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 101 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 5 young girls get their Christmas wish, by SCPO Molly Burgess, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
