Precious Photograph Shows Marine Meeting Son for First Time

The clichΓ© β€œa picture is worth a thousand words” rings true with a precious new photograph showing a Marine kissing his baby born while he was in Afghanistan.

The moment was captured by a military photographer, Sgt. Valerie Eppler, on Saturday at Camp Pendleton.

The photographer was covering the homecoming of more than 130 Marines from 3rd Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion and nine from Umanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1.

She snapped the shot of Cpl. Jordan Claspell meeting his 2-month-old son, Elijah, for the first time following a seven-month deployment with the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force.

For a look at other homecoming photos from Saturday at Camp Pendleton, click here.

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