An anonymous surprise

After stopping in a Dunkin Donuts this past March, Samantha Brown returned to her car to find an envelope left under her windshield wipers. Inside she found two $20 bills and a note that read:

“I noticed the sticker on the back of your car. Take your hero out to dinner when he comes home. Thank you both for serving. Him deployed and you waiting.” — United States Veteran / God Bless. [Huffington Post]

The sticker on the back of Ford’s car read “Half my heart is in Afghanistan.” The heart is her boyfriend Albert John DeSimone, who is serving abroad in the Army. Ford, who lives outside of Boston, went home and posted a photo of the anonymous gift on Facebook, as it was too early to call her boyfriend. Above the photo she said, “There are no words to describe how I’m feeling right now. Tears in my eyes. I just wish I could thank whoever did this! God bless our troops and all of those who stand behind them.” The picture instantly went viral, racking up more than 1.2 million likes and 142,000 shares. When Ford was finally able to tell DeSimone the touching story, he said it’s people like this who make him proud to be an American soldier.