About a dozen Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies descended on the home of WWII veteran Marshall Soria on Saturday afternoon.

That’s because the deputies wanted to wish Soria a happy 100th birthday.

Deputy John Guzman came up with the idea after watching a story about Soria on ABC30.

The station reported Soria survived the Spanish flu that claimed the life of his siblings, made it out of the Great Depression and fought in World War II. His children wanted to throw him a big party, but COVID-19 prevented that from happening. Instead, they asked the community to send him birthday cards. And, he received many.

Guzman is a former Army soldier and many of the deputies that joined in the surprise have also served in the military. The gang enforcement unit and MAGEC team signed a birthday card to him.