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Eric and Miriam Pazz share a kiss at the 2013 Rose Parade. PASADENA, Calif. -- The best moment of the 2013 Rose Parade? An army sergeant who was deployed to Afghanistan stepped off a parade float to surprise his wife and young son, three months before his discharge date.
The surprise reunion, coordinated by the military and pet food company Natural Balance, was seven months in the making. The family was kept on a need-to-know basis, which means Army Sgt. First Class Eric Pazz, 32, wasn't informed of the surprise until five weeks ago, when he was tasked with telling wife Miriam Pazz, 29, that she won an an all expenses-paid trip to the Rose Parade through a military-only contest.
Miriam Pazz and her 4-year-old son Eric Pazz II made the trip from their home at a U.S. military base in Germany to Pasadena, Calif. As they stood on Colorado Boulevard watching the Rose Parade, they were stunned to see Sgt. Pazz atop the "Canines with Courage" parade float.
The crowd stood up to watch Pazz run and hug his family. He swept his son up in his arms and handed his wife a red rose. After the tearful reunion, Pazz returned to the float to finish the parade with his family by his side.
Photo by Associated Press. Story continues below.
"It was an extremely emotional experience," he told The Huffington Post. "It was a very vulnerable, very emotional moment."
Before New Year's Day, Pazz had been separated from his family for seven months.
Miriam Pazz, who avoids watching surprise military reunions when her husband is deployed, was stunned that she was now the subject of such a video -- and a nationally televised one at that.
"It was overwhelming. It's too hard to describe," she told HuffPost.
The couple have been married for eight years, and Pazz said it was difficult to keep such a huge secret from his wife. "She knows me inside and out," he said to HuffPost. "She knows when I'm not being completely honest."
"It was pretty interesting," said Miriam Pazz, smiling. "He's usually not very good with secrets."
For the rest of the week, the family is going to spend time around Southern California visiting Hollywood and Disneyland. But Pazz already knows that the hardest thing about his amazing surprise is right around the corner.
"When we got up on the float, the first thing my son said to me was, 'is it March already? Is that why you're here?'" he said.
"Now I gotta explain to him, when I go back, that I have to go away again for a while -- that I'm not going to see him again for a couple of months," he continued. "So in that aspect, it's even more difficult. You're forced to go through that moment of separation again."
Pazz served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. At the end of this week, he will return to Afghanistan until his discharge date in March.
The "Canines with Courage" display, which raises awareness about the effort to erect the first-ever memorial for military working dogs, was sponsored by pet food company Natural Balance.
The Pentagon sponsored another military-themed float, which replicated the Korean War Veterans memorial in Washington. The Pentagon's Rose Parade debut comes a few months before the 60th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting in Korea.
To see more heartwarming military reunions, check out the slideshow below.
In an attempt to make a memorable entrance, a sailor -- who's been away from home for more than eight months -- decided to sneak into a family picture at his grandma's 76th birthday celebration, The Huffington Post reports. Wrapping her arms around him, the sailor's grandmother yelled in excitement at the sight of her grandson.
Last October, Staff Sergeant Chris Reed -- armed with a trays full of fast food -- surprised his wife, Amy, at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Eustis, Fla. "It started off with her just screaming and her shedding tears. Then everyone started shedding tears. There wasn't a dry eye in the place," Chick-fil-A's Kevin O'Leary told WESH.com.
After being deployed in Kuwait and Iraq for a year, Specialist Matthew Peters from Owensville, Mo., popped into the cafeteria of Washington West Elementary School to give his son, Blake, a long overdue hug. Peters had told Blake, who dissolved into tears at the sight of his father, that he'd be home 10 days later than when he actually showed up.
On an episode of TLC's "Surprise Homecoming", Sgt. Lawrence Lee sings his way back into the hearts of his two children.
In March, The Huffington Post reported that father-of-three MSG Joseph Devine (U.S. Army) returned from Afghanistan after spending a year in Afghanistan. Devine decided to surprise his 18-year-old daughter on stage at her high school after she delivered a speech as captain of her speech team. "She is daddy's only little girl, always will be, and boy did it show," said Devine's wife, Kathryn.
Last December, Capt. Dawn McCracken-Bruce reunited with her young sons just in time for Christmas, ABC News reports. The soldier mom surprised her two children at the mall.
A soldier home from Kuwait paid an unexpected visit to his father-in-law. The soldier's wife, Cari S., captured the tender moment on camera "My big, tough Daddy turns into a big ole' softy when it comes to his kids, and he is so proud of his son-in-law. As you can see, he is on a business call and walks right by my husband when he comes in. I love his reaction," she wrote in the video's description on the Welcome Home Blog.
A U.S. Army couple serving in a parachute-jumping unit in Afghanistan returned home to the delight and tears of their two young children, Fox 11 News reports. When asked what she wants to do with her parents, Travis and Isela Ulman, during their two weeks at home, 11-year-old Tashia said that she has big plans. "Hug them over and over and then I want to show them my room and I want to bring them to school," she said.
In this viral video, watch as a soldier is reunited with his beloved pooch, Emmit. The huge Great Dane, aptly nicknamed "Thunderpaws", is seen giving Trevor Chowder, who had just returned from a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan, a long and loving hug, Yahoo! News reports.
There are many videos of servicemen and women surprising their families, but it's a special treat when we see the tables turned. Here is a heartwarming new video from the Welcome Home Blog which shows a Marine getting a big surprise from his little sister. "My son-in-law took my 8-year-old daughter with him to deliver my son's motorcycle to him in AZ. Our Marine did not know that his little sister was coming. This video is of when he found out," wrote the Marine's mom, Barbara W., in the video description.
A 6-year-old boy with cerebral palsy gave his soldier dad a very special homecoming when he walked into his father's open arms, RightThisMinute.com reports. Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Cooney, 31, had been told that his son would never be able to walk. However, during the seven months that Cooney was away, his son learned to walk on his own. Cooney's wife Melissa kept her son's progress a secret for the duration of her husband's deployment so that when he finally returned home, he would be welcomed with the gift of a lifetime.
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