When Capt. Kevin Camarata found out that he might be coming home from Afghanistan in time for his son Cole's birthday, he decided he would make it one Cole would never forget.

"I just wanted to do something special," said Camarata, who was returning from his third tour of duty overseas. "He wanted a super hero to come to his birthday so I ordered a costume online and tried to do what I could to be Captain America."

And Camarata, a real life captain in the U.S. military, played the role beautifully, showing up at his son's fifth birthday party dressed in full Captain America regalia, complete with a mask, which hid his face.

"He would not take his mask off and it was driving me crazy," said his wife Amara who along with their three oldest children was in on the joke. "I kept saying, 'Ddon't you want to take it off?' and he was like no!"

But when he did take the mask off the reaction was truly priceless,

"At first it didn't click. They were, like, no way," Amara told ABC News. "He kept blinking. He was just shocked…It was emotional for all of us to see Cole's reaction."

As for Captain Camarata, he was just happy to surprise the little boy who he described as his  "shadow" in the weeks before he left for Afghanistan.

"It was great," he said. "I was hoping he was surprised. It was great, great to see him and great to see that he hadn't forgotten me."

However, the surprise has had one unforeseen consequence. Cole and his little brother Chase are now thoroughly convinced that their dad is the real Captain America.