Bellaire Sons of Italy Lodge Serves Dinner to Veterans
Robert A. DeFrank Trending
Area veterans visited the Sons of Italy lodge in Bellaire Tuesday for free spaghetti dinners with friends and family for the holiday season.
Lodge Vice President Doug Hartlieb welcomed the guests.
"Every year we have our veterans dinner. All the veterans in the (Ohio) Valley are invited, and their immediate family. We do this for the idea of honoring our service people, and we want to show it the way that we have here at the Sons of Italy," he said. "We just want to thank the veterans for all they've done for us over the years."
Hartlieb said past dinners for veterans have seen as many as 300 guests between 3 and 6 p.m. He noted that members had served about 60 early in the evening.
"We'll probably end up doing 250-300 today," he said.
Hartlieb said the servers volunteered their time. He noted there is a strong veteran presence in the area and said the dinner attracts many familiar people who attend every year.
Guests included Robert Morris of Wheeling, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1965-1990.
"This is the first time I've come for this. We come down frequently on Thursday night (for the lodge's weekly dinners), but I didn't know they did this until this year," Morris said.
He also spoke about his naval career.
"I enjoyed it. It was just like going to a job. I liked it or I wouldn't have been there all that time. I've been all over. It's taken me to places I never thought I'd have been. It took me to Japan and the Philippines and Vietnam, and I went through the Panama Canal and I've been all over the East Coast. It's taken me around."
Morris added that he was not surprised at the turnout.
"I'm just proud to have served, and if I could do it again, I would be there again," he said.
Robert Brown of Wheeling served 12 years in the U.S. Army.
"I went in the service right after high school and I was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky," he said, adding he was also stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and in Germany. "I enjoyed it. It made a man out of me. I was in Greece, Turkey, Spain, Denmark, Copenhagen, Germany, Italy, a lot of places."
"I joined up to become a man. I was hanging with the wrong crowd growing up, and I told my parents, 'I'm going into the military,'" he said, adding that he learned discipline and responsibility in the service. "I specialized in communications. I was a telephone man. I climbed the telephone poles, strung the wire, hooked up the switchboard. We were still in training in the field and I had to take all that up, tear it down, wrap the wire up and throw the wire away. It was an experience."
This was Brown's second time attending the dinner.
"I appreciate the people here for doing what they do," he said.
John Steiner of Bellaire served in the U.S. Air Force in the 1970s, working in electronics.
"We needed people at that time, and I could do it. It was my privilege to be in the Air Force," he said, noting he was stationed in Massachusetts and New York. "I was instrumental landing systems for the aircraft. Keeping the planes flying."
He is also a frequent visitor to the Sons of Italy.
"It's good. You feel like people really care," Steiner said.
He is also a member of the Flushing American Legion Riders. He said they raised $9,000 on a recent poker run for the Freedom Tree at Thomas Auto Group in St. Clairsville, which assists veterans and their families during the holidays.
Sam Anderson of St. Clairsville and Chris Krizan of Moundsville said a few words outside of the lodge.
Anderson, who served 1959-62 in Germany with the Army, said the hospitality Tuesday was appreciated.
"They serve good meals here, and they got a lot of respect for people," he said, adding he carries fond memories from his time in the military. "I miss them just like a family."
Krizan, who served in the Army during the Vietnam era, agreed. He added that he worked on building an Air Force base at the Laotian border.
The lodge also got a holiday visit from "Santa" Mike Slenski of Pleasant Grove, a Vietnam veteran who appears at events dressed as a patriotic Santa Claus.
"I always enjoy the opportunity to come down here and be with these folks. They do a wonderful job. I appreciate it," he said.
From the Sons of Italy, he headed to the St. Clairsville Public Library for a Cocoa with Santa event.