It had been a normal Sunday night for Dawn Ward, a waitress at the Olive Garden restaurant in Lubbock, Texas.

Then, a married couple were seated and Ward thought they deserved ultra-generous care.

"They said they had a special event happening and they wanted to spend it here at Olive Garden," Ward said. "And so I inquired what it was and they said that he was going to be deployed the next morning."

Ward asked her manager if the restaurant could pick up the Nichols' tab.

When the man asked for the check, she had prepared a surprise.

"I said no we've already got that taken care of, thank you for serving our country," Ward said.

She posted about it on the Olive Garden Facebook page and within hours had hundreds of comments and LIKES.

(READ the story WATCH the video from KLBK, Lubbock)