Veterans Day and a “Fran O’Brien’s” Update

Fly your flag and thank a veteran tomorrow. And Sunday and Monday and Tuesday.

Then take a minute to ponder the relationship between the sacrifices of our soldiers from the Revolutionary War through the Iraq/Afghan wars and the peaceful Election Day that changed political power through the ballot box. Now that the campaign on the home front is over, please don’t forget that our troops are still standing on the front line in the war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them.

Fly your flag and thank a veteran tomorrow. And Sunday and Monday and Tuesday.

Then take a minute to ponder the relationship between the sacrifices of our soldiers from the Revolutionary War through the Iraq/Afghan wars and the peaceful Election Day that changed political power through the ballot box. Now that the campaign on the home front is over, please don’t forget that our troops are still standing on the front line in the war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them.

Think positive thoughts and say a prayer for them, of course, but also let us invite you to show a special group of soldiers that you appreciate them, worry about them and are proud of them.

When we last wrote about Fran O’Brien’s Steakhouse (see JINSA Reports #448, 512, 564, 565 and 569) in May, we had lost the battle with the Hilton Hotels Corporation to make the restaurant handicapped accessible and renew the lease for the restaurant that had been providing free steak dinners on Friday nights for young veterans – primarily amputees – recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital near Washington. We promised then, “As long as there are soldiers… needing an evening out and the company of friends, there will be dinners…”

And so there have been. Thanks to a dedicated band of volunteers and backers including many JINSA members, the soldiers haven’t missed a Friday. The Italian Embassy took the first difficult night after Fran’s closed – the Defense Attache and his staff made it their duty, and honor, to meet and escort every American soldier into the party and make sure he had a drink and someone to talk to. The Taiwan Trade Mission; the Department of the Interior; restaurants The Indian Experience and The Exchange; The Army Navy Club and The Capitol Hill Club; and the base of operations, The Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel have taken their turns hosting.

Fran O’Brien’s dinners aren’t about food, they are about fellowship in the community of people who love, respect and honor American soldiers for their service to our country and to freedom – Veterans Day and every day.

It’s harder now, but on the flip side, solving the problem has allowed a whole new group of people to have an opportunity to enter that fellowship. You can as well.

Make a check out to JINSA (fully tax deductible), put “Fran O’Brien’s” in the memo, and send it to JINSA, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 515, Washington, DC 20036. One hundred percent of it goes to the soldiers.

It’s said the election campaign cost $2.6 BILLION and one pundit noted that Americans spend that much on chocolate every two months. There ought to be something in the pot for soldiers who have sacrificed so much in order that we have both politics and chocolate in prodigious quantity.