A 74-year-old Vietnam veteran from Bridgeport got a special gift Saturday when local leaders presented him with the keys to his new home.

Esteban Romero, who migrated from Puerto Rico to the mainland United States at age 18 and later served in the U.S. Army, moved into his new home on Cedar Street in Bridgeport on Saturday.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal presented Romero with the keys to the new house, which was built by Habitat for Humanity for a low-income tenant and sold to Romero under a mortgage carrying a 0 percent interest rate.

Romero says he has had many joys throughout his life, but one that always eluded him until now was homeownership. Now Romero says it is the honor of a lifetime to raise his grandchildren in this home.