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Girl, Who Lost Father, To Receive Special Escort To Father-Daughter Dance

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A north suburban kindergartener whose father was killed in a military training accident last year will be getting a special escort to a Father-Daughter dance on Wednesday.

The Illinois Army National Guard said Cayleigh Hinton will travel in a limo, which will be escorted by local police and firefighters and the Patriot Guard. The kindergartener's date for the night will be Military Police 1st Sgt. Joseph Eric Bierbrodt (who goes by Eric). He volunteered when his commanding officer put out an email request.

Biebrodt said he has not yet met Cayleigh but has talked to her mother and said, "she is a bubbly little girl that's happy. She's going through phases with the loss of her father, which is to be expected."

Bierbrodt said he feels honored to be able to take the Winthrop Harbor girl to the Our Lady of Humility Father-Daughter event in Beach Park.

Cayleigh Hinton's father, Terrence Hinton, was an active duty Army sergeant who served tours of duty in Afghanistan and Kuwait. He died last year in a training accident in Hawaii.

First Sgt. Bierbrodt said, he has two daughters of his own, one grown and another in high school.

He said he intends to break the ice by giving Cayleigh a five-foot tall toy stuffed dog.

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