A wife knew her husband was due to arrive soon in Maine from his yearlong National Guard deployment, but she told him she didn’t want to know when since it could change “at the drop of a dime.”
So Staff Sgt. Jason Legendre, 32, decided to surprise his wife, Jaime Legendre, 37, at her job as an administrative assistant at the York Police Department in a heartfelt moment that was captured on video and released by the department.
“I’m very hard to surprise and he nailed it,” Legendre told McClatchy News during a phone interview about her husband’s return on Nov. 1.
When Legendre first sees her husband in his Maine National Guard uniform, she is seen sprinting and leaping into his arms in what she and her husband call a “Bachelorette”-style jump, based on the hit ABC reality TV show, in the video released by the police department.
Legendre explained she had returned from her lunch break when a police dispatcher told her there was someone in the lobby who needed something.
“I saw who it was, I was like ‘oh my God!,’” she said. “I dropped everything I had in my hands.
“The dispatcher had already gone ahead and opened the door for me so I just literally bolted and ran,” she added.
Legendre said her husband’s return is a feeling that’s hard to describe.
He immediately headed to the police department to surprise her after flying in from the airport.
Jason Legendre, who has served in the state’s National Guard for eight years, was deployed at the U.S. southwestern border, according to Jaime, who declined to comment on exactly where.
“I missed him terribly,” she said while adding that she was thankful to get to talk to her husband every day.
“He always made a point to make sure he was able to call me every day so we could hear each other’s voices,” Legendre said.
She did get to visit him once during his deployment, and he surprised her months ago in July 2021 for a brief reunion.
They eloped a month before Jason Legendre’s deployment in 2020 without anyone knowing, Jaime Legendre said.
Now, her husband is home to stay until his next deployment, which is unknown.
The couple will have a big wedding celebration in June 2022 with family and friends.
At home, they have a full house with three dogs and two cats, who are extremely excited Jason Legendre is back, Jaime said.
After their wedding, they might take on a road trip along the East Coast, she added.
“Welcome home Staff Sergeant and THANK YOU for your service!” the police department wrote on Facebook.
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