Updated

A wounded warrior was surprised with a mortgage-free, custom-built home during halftime at the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl at SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Thursday, The Dallas Morning News reports.

Army Specialist Hugo L. Gonzalez an Army war veteran was severely wounded while serving in Iraq.

In 2004, Gonzalez was left blind in one eye after a bomb exploded while he was in Iraq, hitting him with shrapnel. He suffered a life-threatening head injury and underwent a craniotomy to relieve the swelling of his brain, The Dallas Morning News reports.

Gonzalez, his wife Amy, and three children currently live in Florida. He credits her for helping him recover.

“She is my true heroine,” he told The Dallas Morning News. “Without her, I don’t know if I’d be here.”

Gonzalez is receiving the home through Operation Finally Home, which awards homes to wounded and disabled veterans. The program pays the property taxes on the home for the first two years.

Click here for more on this story from The Dallas Morning News.