Tony Giordano, dressed as Santa, strings lights across his fire truck and plays Christmas music in preparation for the fire truck parade to welcome Gunnery Sgt. James Chavez home from deployment and to surprise his 5-year-old son. Valley News/Courtesy photo
One soldier is hoping Santa will bring him home to his family for Christmas.A father, husband and Marine, Gunnery Sgt. James Chavez is currently deployed in a combat zone, but is looking forward to seeing his family when he can return home.In an online post, Chavez reached out to the local community to see if they could help surprise his 5-year-old son by showing up to their house with a fire truck, with Santa on board, to welcome Chavez home.Raven Leigh Hilden, who runs a Temecula/Murrieta nonprofit called MilVet, was tagged in the post by a friend.“MilVet – we’re dedicated to helping deployed troops and veterans in the community,” Hilden said. “MilVet is kind of coordinating the pickup and the time, the homecoming, getting all the different organizations togethe
