After Years Away, MN Soldier Celebrates First Father's Day
WOODBURY, Minn. (WCCO) -- Sunday's Father's Day will be the first time Sgt. Ifedayo Kila will be with his family on the special day since his son was born nearly four years ago.
Kila returned from serving in Afghanistan this past December, and before that he was in Iraq with the Redbulls.
Now he's home in Woodbury.
"This will be my first Father's Day celebration since he was born," Kila said.
And his son, Ifay, has changed while he was away.
"He was still a toddler at the time," Kila said. "When I came back he's up, growing, and talking."
His service in the National Guard has come with great sacrifice, but it's what he came here for -- to live out his dream.
"It has always been a passion to be in a military uniform from when I was young," he said.
Kila and his wife, Lola, are from Nigeria. He came to the United States in 2001 in search of a better life.
"This Sunday will be devoted to my son entirely," Kila said. "I'm going nowhere. We'll go to church and we'll be together."
Kila and his wife are expecting their second child, a girl, due this fall, and he'll be here for his daughter's birth.
