Adelyn McCracken’s father, Master Sergeant Justin McCracken, is stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea — half a world away. It’s tough on the Clyde Elementary School second-grader, who sometimes copes by hugging a small pillow printed with her father’s picture when she misses him on a school day.
But Adelyn got the chance to hug her dad for real last week when MSgt. McCracken appeared behind his daughter while she was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a school assembly.
The touching moment was the brainchild of Sherry Justice, Adelyn’s teacher. Throughout the year, Justice’s classroom has been pen pals with the master sergeant.
Adelyn’s classmates send cards, photos, and posters to the other side of the world. McCracken sends photos and notes in return. On one memorable occasion, a box of South Korean candy appeared in the classroom.
“We know more about you than you know we know about you!” Justice said to McCracken over cupcakes at a post-assembly classroom party. Adelyn was stuck to her father like a baby koala. Meanwhile, a gaggle of curious students pelted him with questions.
“We thought all along that he wouldn’t be home until August,” Justice told the Mountaineer. “And then, just a few weeks ago, Amy said, ‘Justin’s coming home, can we come to your classroom?’ And I said, ‘Oh, we’re going to go big with this.’ And it all just fell into place.”
A picture of love
It took a little gentle skullduggery to pull off the surprise. After Clyde Elementary’s second graders brought down the house with the national anthem at an assembly last Friday, Principal Karley Wells announced she’d be drawing a name out of a basket. The chosen student would help her recite the Pledge.
But the fix was in — Adelyn’s name was the only one up for grabs. She took the stage with a smile, not suspecting that her dad was waiting backstage. Halfway through the Pledge, he walked out behind her, causing murmurs of excitement from the watching students.
Then Adelyn turned and saw her dad. She leapt into his arms to thunderous applause from the assembly. Most of the adults in the room mysteriously and simultaneously got a bit of dust in their eyes. Wells was no exception.
“This is the most exciting thing that we’ve gotten to do all year. In fact, I think this might be the most exciting thing that I’ve gotten to do in my entire career,” she told The Mountaineer. “Adelyn has the strongest, bravest little spirit and has held onto the fact that she knows her daddy is coming home to her. And to be a part of that, and let all of these other kids be a part of that?
“We’ve been talking about how this assembly is about loving others, and to get to do this? I couldn’t picture love in a better way.”
A few minutes later, MSgt. McCracken was good-naturedly fending off a flock of sugar-and-excitement-fueled second-graders as he held his daughter for the first time in six months.
“I was really surprised and happy,” Adelyn said. “I wish he could stay here for two months and not two weeks.”
Always a rainbow
Soon enough, McCracken will have to leave his family behind and return to South Korea to finish his deployment. It will be sad for everyone — McCracken, his wife, Adelyn and her siblings, even the other students of Justice’s second-grade class.
But if there’s one thing Clyde Elementary School students know how to do, it’s weather storms. After all, the faculty and staff there spent the weeks following Hurricane Helene telling them, “After every storm comes a rainbow.” It’s an attitude the students, Adelyn included, have fully embraced.
As Friday drew to a close and the children trickled out of the building to return home, one family that hadn’t been together at the start of the day got to leave in each other’s arms.
As they did, a rainbow appeared over the school.
___
© 2025 The Mountaineer
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
