Ellen DeGeneres surprises fan by reuniting her with deployed boyfriend on show

It’s pretty hard not to love Ellen DeGeneres. From hilarious shopping trips with Oprah and Michelle Obama to cracking us all up with her love of scaring people, you’ve gotta admit she’s pretty entertaining. But her sense of humor isn’t even the best thing about the comedian-turned talk show host—her warm heart and generosity is even more inspiring.

So when DeGeneres had the chance to reunite a U.S. Navy officer with his girlfriend on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, she of course took the opportunity to not only make their day—but all of ours as well.

During the episode, DeGeneres read a letter from Noah Copeland, a supply officer in the Navy. In the letter, he explains that while he’s overseas, his girlfriend, Maura Gonsalves, is sitting in DeGeneres’s audience.

“I know that you’re the reason that [Maura’s] been able to get through this deployment. I was supposed to come back at the end of January, but things keep getting pushed back and now I’m not sure when I’m going to be home. Since I can’t be there with her, I know nothing would make her happier than getting to celebrate your birthday with you at your show,” DeGeneres read from the letter.

Of course, Gonsalves was surprised and obviously emotional, but walked up to the stage and said she and Copeland moved to California about a year and a half ago. A few months later, Copeland was deployed to Diego Garcia, a military-owned island in the Indian Ocean, where he’d been for more than a year.

DeGeneres then told Gonsalves she was invited to attend her upcoming birthday show and asked someone from backstage to bring out her tickets. As you may have guessed by now, that someone was Copeland, who had been backstage the entire time.

See the sweet reunion below:

After being reunited, the couple explained that they’d planned on traveling to Puerto Rico once they were back together again, but because of Hurricane Maria, their plans were canceled. Instead, they said they donated the money they’d saved for their trip to Ricky Martin’s Puerto Rico disaster relief charity.

Although Copeland can’t accept gifts because he is in the military, Gonsalves can! So, DeGeneres gave her a trip to Hawaii, jokingly saying she can include Copeland if she wants. Judging by the happiness on both their faces when they were reunited, it’s safe to say they’ll have a great time on the beach!