WATCH: Veterans United Pays Marine Couple’s Mortgage on 246 Anniversary of Marine Corps

A Marine couple with two young children discovered on the 246 birthday of the United States Marine Corps that Veterans United Home Loans paid off their mortgage.

Mario and Amy Perez are both Marine Corps Veterans, and they closed on a new home in Jacksonville, North Carolina, on November 9, according to ABC 11. On November 10, the 246 anniversary of the inception of the United States Marine Corps, they learned live on Good Morning America that Veterans United Home Loans paid their entire mortgage.

Happy 246th Birthday #Marines! pic.twitter.com/rtuGCc8zzE

— U.S. Marines (@USMC) November 10, 2021

Good Morning America reporter Rob Marciano showed up outside their new home in the early morning, along with 50 of the family’s closest friends and new neighbors. Accompanying the large group of friends and neighbors were a local high school marching band and a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC).

The couple, still unaware that their home had been paid for, watched as Marciano began to tear up a copy of their mortgage. “That’s no good anymore because Veterans United Home Loans has paid off your home,” the reporter announced.

Mario and Amy embraced one another as emotion overcame them.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Amy said while wiping tears of joy away from her eyes.

“It’s unreal, to even think that, I mean, never would have thought of anything like this — I’m out of words,” Mario stated.

The couple had been through a trying process while looking for a home in the current market.

“If you saw a house that popped up for sale, there was 70 people lined up to see this house and there were people that were putting tens of thousands of dollars more over the asking price, so it was tough,” Mario stated, according to Good Morning America.

Tony Johnson, a friend of Mario’s and a fellow Marine, says that Mario embodies the values of the United States Marine Corps.

“Marine Corps values: Honor, courage, and commitment. The hard thing is to live by it, and that’s one thing that Mario has done,” Johnson told Good Morning America.

Veterans United Home Loans is providing 11 veterans with homes in honor of Veterans Day, which will be observed on November 11. The Perez family is the seventh family to be awarded a new home, while the eighth, ninth, and tenth families remain unknown. The spot for the eleventh family is still to be determined, and eligible military families can enter to win the slot.