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Delta reunites young boy with deceased father’s shirt

Delta employees went "above and beyond" the call of duty to reunite a young passenger with a "much-treasured" item he left behind on a plane.

Cole Holzer, 7, was travelling with his family from North Dakota to California for a vacation when he left an old Nike shirt on the plane.

The shirt was his father's.

Brian Holzer died two years ago after falling while putting up Christmas lights. He was wearing the shirt when he fell.

Cole kept the shirt, "cuz it reminds me of my dad," he told WDAY.

"Ever since he will lay out and spray his dad's cologne on it and cuddle up with it and sing the daddy song to go to bed," said Cole's mom, Tonya.

In the rush to leave the plane with his mother and two siblings, Cole left his "daddy shirt" behind. Shortly after leaving the San Diego airport, Cole broke down in tears at the realization he was without the tattered shirt.

Upon hearing the sad story, Kelly Cruchet, Tonya's friend back in Fargo, immediately reached out to Delta.

"I started by calling the Delta 800 number and I tried to keep my composure, I am pretty emotional, I cried, the lady on the other end cried," Cruchet told WDAY of her ally in the search, Delta employee Vicki Katseanes.

The plane the family had been on just left for Minneapolis.

Pilots, cleaning crews and ticket agents were all on the lookout for the daddy shirt. Nothing turned up in the Lost and Found.

Delta didn't give up the search.

Soon, a ground crew was rifling through the garbage. They found it.

Katseanes called Cruchet with the good news.

Tonya and Cole immediately headed to the airport, in tears, to meet Katseanes and pick up the beloved shirt.

"I was really happy because I liked it so much," Cole said of the reunion.

"Delta was amazing and while this has been a really emotional story — it's been so great to both be part of and share this happy ending," Tonya wrote on Facebook.

"Efforts made to reunite this very special shirt with Cole and his family is another fantastic example of Delta people going above and beyond for our customers," Delta Airlines out of Atlanta told WDAY.

"We all miss Bryan so much," Cruchet wrote in a letter to the airline, "and I so wish Cole had his daddy here to watch him play flag football and baseball and basketball and wrestling – but we all know he is watching them from up above (and as Cole tells my son and all his buddies, 'my dad plays basketball on team heaven!'). I want to thank all involved today for what they did for this little boy they had never met — as a friend stated, 'Delta allowed a daddy to still be there for his little boy'…even if he can't be with him on earth. You all went so far above and beyond and the statement I made to Vicki goes to all of you: YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PEOPLE I HAVE NEVER MET!"

Last month, Delta made good-news headlines for providing stranded passengers with an impromptu pizza party.