George Vranich
Elwood Walker served in the Marines and spent time fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. George Vranich was in the Marines at the same time but never got sent to Vietnam. Larry Kremis spent his time in the Army while Vietnam was going on, working an administrative position in Bangkok, Thailand.
These three men served overlapping stints in the military but had very different experiences.
No matter, said Dan Suttles. “You feel that bond,” he said of vets, even if your experience is very different from other vets.
Suttles, an Air Force veteran, is not a member of the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars, so he looks forward to the annual Veteran’s Lunch hosted by the Brookfield Rotary Club.
“That’s great that you do this every year,” Suttles said Nov. 20. “It’s good to see veterans, sit around and talk to them.”
To his fellow vets, he said, “I really respect the fact that I get to sit at the same table and eat with you. I take my hat off to all of you.”
The Rotary has held the event every year – except for a couple of COVID years – since 2008, said member Jean McKenzie. It started “to show our appreciation for the veterans that were Rotary members, as well as our family members and neighbors, and co-workers who were veterans, as well,” she said.
The Rotary usually invites vets to the event ahead of time, but Bob Morris got to participate because he just happened to walk into Jimmy Neno’s Pizzeria and Taproom, where the Rotary meets. He planned to buy lunch before he headed off to a VA clinic when Rotary President Amy Zell spotted his veteran ball cap and invited him to sit in with the group.
Morris, of Boardman, served in the Air Force from 1968-76.
Others who attended were Army vet John Jablonski and Air Force vet Don Rust.
“I appreciate you having this for all of us,” Jablonski said.
