Watch CBS News

Airman Proposes To Girlfriend At Metro Airport (Video)

By Edward Cardenas

ROMULUS (CBS Detroit) - It took nearly 100 days, and a dozen roses, but Emma Trabue finally got to see her boyfriend Friday as he deplaned a Delta Air Lines flight from California.

Trabue stood at the gate at Detroit Metropolitan Airport with a "Welcome Home A1C Greko" sign for her boyfriend, Jon Greko, of Saline.

But before the Airman First Class got off the plane, he had passengers present roses to her.

Greko was one the last off the plane, and hugged his girlfriend before dropping to one knee and proposing. She said yes.

The video was posted on YouTube, and seen by nearly 5,000 people.

According the Kelsey Trabue, she said her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law met at Western Michigan University last year. Greko had already graduated and Emma still had a year of school left.

She said the couple knew it was going to be difficult to leave each other because Greko had decided to enter the Air Force, but they knew they could get through it.

In October, after not speaking for about two weeks due to basic training requirements, Greko got his phone privileges back, but was only allowed to talk on the phone for 15 minutes.

He tried to contact his girlfriend, but she wasn't answering, according to Trabue. She said her sister was rock climbing at Climb Kalamazoo and didn't hear the phone ringing. So, Greko called her roommate, who had then called Climb Kalamazoo, who then told her that he was on the phone and she jumped off the wall to talk to him.

With only two minutes of left, Trabue said the couple was sobbing on the phone and Trabue said she wanted to marry him. The proposal over the phone got the planning in motion for a wedding during Greko's break on Dec. 28.

To make the whole thing "officially official," according to Trabue, Greko asked his soon-to-be mother-in-law for help. With the help of a family friend who is a Delta flight attendant, Emma Trabue received a gateway pass to meet her boyfriend at the gate.

Greko's mom came up with the idea to ask other passengers on the plane to hand out flowers to Trabue as they got off the plane.

While Emma Trabue thought she was surprising her boyfriend, she was the one who was surprised.

The proposal was caught on video, posted to YouTube and shared on social media - including Delta's Twitter account.

In addition to getting engaged this month, Trabue graduated this month and will be a teacher.

"It's kind of funny, but they both finished up their major milestones around the same time," Kelsey Trabue wrote. "He just finished basic training while she just finished undergrad."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.