Navy Mom Surprises Son With More Than Just His Diploma at Graduation

— -- One high schooler got a lot more than just his diploma on his graduation day.

“I got really worried and thought she forgot my name,” Steven Turner Jr. told ABC affiliate WBMA of the long pause before his name was read.

But then he noticed the reason for the silence. His mother, Vera Turner, a Petty Officer 2nd class in the Navy, was there to surprise her son on his big day -- just as he was about to walk across the stage in his cap and gown.

“It means so much to me, it means the whole world,” the graduate said of his huge surprise at the Paul W. Bryant High School graduation ceremony in Alabama on Saturday. “I thought she wasn't going to make it."

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Turner had been on a nine-month tour serving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She intentionally kept her homecoming a secret from their entire family, working out the details for her surprise arrival with the school district.

As the two embraced and tears were shed, “All he could say was, ‘Mama, thank you. Thank you, mama. I love you,” Turner recalled of the special moment.

His proud mother is now home for good, just in time to celebrate both of their bright new futures together.