(NewsNation) — A milestone for one 5-year-old boy recently turned into a reunion.

Hunter Long, of suburban Atlanta, was able to celebrate his kindergarten graduation with the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office detective, Mike Duncan, who saved his life years earlier.

Duncan still remembers getting the call to go to Hunter’s house.

“God parted the ways for me to get there real quick, because it’s a busy road that I had to go down,” Duncan recalled on NewsNation’s “Morning in America.”

Once he got there, Duncan heard screaming from Hunter’s mom and sister in the backyard. Hunter’s sister was holding her brother, then only around 2 years old, at the bottom of a partially drained pool. Hunter was limp and blue.

Duncan went into action right away, giving the boy CPR, then patting him until he eventually expelled water and started crying.

“I’m like, not today. You’re not going away today,” Duncan said.

It was the first time Duncan had saved a child.

“They train us to do all this stuff. And you’re like, ‘Nah, that’s never gonna happen.’ Well, it happened,” Duncan said. “I didn’t do anything else that any of my other colleagues wouldn’t have done. They’re all trained the same way. God just put me in the right spot at the right time for this young man.”

After the ordeal was over, Duncan told Hunter’s mom he wanted to see him graduate. Fast forward a few years, and that’s exactly what Duncan did.

A video shows the detective at Hunter’s kindergarten graduation, commenting on how big the boy’s gotten, asking “Do you remember me?” before giving him a hug.

“It was amazing,” Duncan said. “This is the reason why I do the job. And I’m sure it’s the reason my colleagues do their job as well.”

Hunter’s kindergarten graduation might not be the last ceremony Duncan goes to. Hunter said he wants to be a policeman when he grows up. “If he does, I’ll be at his graduation in a heartbeat for that,” Duncan said.