The Viral Army Hero and Tia Reunite- Meeting the Soldier Who Carried My Daughter

This is wild Yes it is so good to meet you and Honestly, I feel like I don't even have like the words i'm just like so speechless. I also wanted to meet you back after all that, okay, so daniel I did really want to know like What was going on through your mind when I like frantically came up to you and like you saw me You saw me struggling like what was going on I was having my ear plugged with me so it took me like At least 20 like 10 seconds to process what was going on because you were really I could really see you that were panicking like Extremely panicking And I was looking around and like thinking if this was like a real situation And just start yeah, I don't really have much memories back then. I just start grabbing just grab your child and it's ran and so when I was talking to your sister, she Obviously connected me to you and she was saying which I had no idea but that you actually had bags that you left at the table when you ran or My battle buddies next to me, so I just thought that at least they were like At least keep an eye on my bags and I really Just could tell you were in like a really urgent situation. So I just Really didn't thought about it and just ran when I went home for christmas literally like every table I was sitting around I was like y'all wouldn't believe what happened at the airport. I feel like I told everyone about it Uh, what did you tell your family when when they saw you? I think I just thought yeah, just just my parents is like this just happened during when I was at the airport and I think that was just it. Yeah So I just thought that I had to do what I had to do in the moment my parents really They're they're really asian parents as you can tell first gen korean and They really just taught me when I grew up how like how I should be teaching like helping others Who needs help and I actually taught I don't know if your mom told you but she actually wrote me a beautiful letter and She's a missionary, right? Oh, she's yeah, she is. Yeah in cambodia. I was like that is so cool. So did you grow up in cambodia? Where'd you grow up? so, uh, we we grew up in like Moving in and out of many countries we were born in the states We grew up in like lived in korea for short lives in indonesia for short lives in cambodia too and In many other different countries. Yeah And you're already serving our country like seriously. I I couldn't think of a better person seriously to serve our country like There are just millions of people looking At your example, and i'm just like so grateful for you. I think you definitely deserve An award or an honor so and a lot of people are rooting for that So I wouldn't be surprised if you get something what what was like going on through your mind like while you were carrying my daughter Oh honestly, I Never like carried a baby. I carried a child before so I was holding her and I could tell that I was getting uncomfortable and she was feeling a little uncomfortable about it I was just grabbing one of her legs and it was her upper body And she was uh, she's almost about to cry so that also kind of made me panic but then I knew my mission. I had to bring you to the gate before before the boarding went off so just just sorry to her and i'm I'm, sorry if she she was uncomfortable during that time, but then Then oh my god, just fully sprinted with her Right. Yeah, I didn't have any thoughts other than that Yeah, and when we got to the gate like both of us were like breathing really heavily like we were sprinting and I remember I just like I finally all my emotions caught up to me and I just started crying and I was like, oh my god Thank you so much And I just really wish like in that moment, honestly I just sort of like gave you a huge hug and got your name, but we were like in such a hurry that we just ran but who would have known that it would have led to this like Okay, so it was actually really crazy. I wasn't able to use my phone the whole time because I was really busy I was shipping out just moved on to my next station for my AIT. I was finally able to use my phone. I checked on like my instagram dm were kind of Braced it out with all my all my friends and my the guys I met in my basic training They were like, oh, hey, this is you. This is you and he just sent me the reels. I checked it It really surprised me a lot. I was never I mean never thought I would be in It would be like a part of instagram reels that that I would like say would be viral and the internet. Yeah Nothing like getting a break from your phone and then coming back and realizing everyone and their mother knows you actually on the way I was walking past this girl and she was like Are you are you the guy from that? The viral instagram reel. So it was like, oh, yes, you saw that like there was a few other guys most of my friends just They're even more excited than me I'm like, bro, you're you're you're in viral on the internet. I was like, uh, yes Is that really well, I do enjoy it, but I don't really enjoy much of the spotlight i'm getting it's a it's a good place while everyone's kind of Looking at this story. It's a good place to remind them like hey this is what god calls us to do is to like love on people and I know You know, there's been a ton of negative comments. Uh About me and about you. It's just such a good reminder of like one not really care what people think about you and to like just help those around you and and do it without expecting anything in return and that's exactly What you did right? You just like loved our family and didn't think anything about it and you never thought it would end up like this, but I just really appreciate it Yeah, I just really appreciate you showing like us literally the love of christ so I really appreciate that Yeah, I just did what I had to do at the moment like I think You know, I really want to appreciate you for posting it on the internet so all our friends and really Giving me that allowing me to have the experience of You know my parents and my friends being proud of me. I'm grateful that other people saw that That you did A badass move, you know that they wanted to honor you and they're like dang This guy is a real hero. Like we want to honor him. So i'm thankful that the rest of the world. Um Has joined me in that truly? yeah, I was reading the comments just a few few minutes ago and I was like There's so many people just trying to find find who I was They're just guessing. I was like guessing my race if I was korean or japanese If I was a basic at and like this guy has no past he must be at at this guy's ball He must be dancing. I know I haven't even had time to like go through and look at everything because it's just like an overwhelming amount um Okay, I do have like some fun questions just like about like you and your family first I'd be curious like what led you to join the army? uh I guess that that's I don't really have a cool reason like other guys. I just It came I came to the states to study abroad and to just start my college life here, but then I was kind of struggling to keep up with paying the Tuitions and keep keeping up the studies alongside with working Because I was and I also really did not know what I wanted to do. So, you know, I was I was like, you know what? I'll just try to join the army. It sounds really cool And it gives a lot of benefits It's yeah and really uh I can really tell that the u.s. Society gave like a lot of respect to service members and I mean, I thought that was one of the biggest reason and I think yeah that that made me join the army. Yeah, that's that's really cool And I don't think that's a lame answer. I think that's really normal and a lot of people you know like have have that uh like that experience so It takes a lot of courage to even join the army, thank you so much for your service Who do you feel like shaped you to be like the man that you are today? Uh, I think it's definitely my mom Yeah, she's a very christian That's a very like strict christian and she really taught me and like grew up and she Growing up like she yeah, she just really gave me a lot of good influences now. She like treat other people help other people Well, she definitely uh did a good job. It's been interesting some of the comments people are saying like Oh, is he married or like when's the wedding? I'm like, well, i'm already married. So that but other people are like They're cracking me up. They're like, um, if he's single let me know who he is because he's definitely someone I want to marry I'm like, oh my gosh Like people simmer down. I don't even know his name. I can't connect you with him But now that we know each other apparently a lot of women are interested in knowing you If you could say anything to everyone who watched the video, what would you tell them? Okay, I feel like this is like a moment I have to say something really good I really think of one is uh as a us army service member As a us army soldier and as a christian So I think I just did what I had to do and pretty sure everybody else would have also done the same thing um at the moment, so I believe that there's a lot of good people out there a lot of Soldiers out there that would have done the same as me so i'm thankful for all the comments, but Yeah, I feel like i'm It's a little too it's a little a bit too much right at this point, you know. Yeah. I love that I love your humility. It was just all in the moment, right? like you knew I was a safe person once you assess the situation like oh like she generally needs help and I knew right away like the moment I saw you I just felt in my soul like He's the person that's gonna help me and I had so I just had so much peace like, you know, like when you can sense if someone is like harmful or not, like I truly just felt like you were a safe person and That's why I ran before you because I was like i'm not worried like i'm just gonna keep running and I kept looking back to make sure you know, like my daughter was still like Not crying or anything but I knew you were The right person that god put like I scanned the whole airport Like I looked around once I realized I was like i'm not gonna make it to the gate on time. I looked around and I was like Scanning everyone and I saw you just chilling on your phone and I was like He's not in a hurry He's in uniform He definitely can run faster than me. Like he's the man i'm gonna Thank you daniel, you're amazing i'd like seriously so appreciate your time Oh, no problem, man. I was also glad to meet you back and i'm that Happy reunion. Wait, really last last thing. Can you teach me how to properly bow? Oh So it's actually uh Your full upper body should be going like Like 100 formal. It should be like night at least 90 degrees The one I bow like you was just like a side bow because I didn't have time. I don't have like it. Yeah I don't have a stand around me it's like a traditional korean bow if there's someone in front of me would be like their hands should just like like that It's actually a very exaggerated bow Usually people would just just yet not like bow their head just slightly tilt it here is my sitting down Love you, man. We'll talk soon. I remember as well rewardful night