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Doc Farmer
LCDR
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 442
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
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Snipe
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 574
Location: Peoria, Illinois
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 Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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OK Doc. I'm #229.
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Tin Can Sailor |
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Navy wife
Research Director
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 353
Location: Arlington, VA & Ft. Worth, TX
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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Hi all,
This made me so angry! I am signer no. 161. I also sent emails to every Hilton contact I could find. I found a bunch of emails under their Press/media contacts. I figure if enough of us hit their news media people, they will realize what PR mess they are in.
Navy wife |
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becca1223
PO3
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 293
Location: Colonial Heights, VA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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I've read on Andi's World that the Capital Hilton Hotel is intent on continuing these steak dinners for the injured US troops.
Translation 
Hilton Hotels Corp: "Show ME the money!" 
| Quote: | AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Italian Company Gives $75,000 for Vets
By Rudi Williams / American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 16, 2006 - Wounded troops can eat a lot of steaks on $75,000, which is the amount the Italian company, Finmeccanica, Inc., gave Washington's Fran O'Brien's Stadium Steakhouse today during a Pentagon ceremony hosted by the deputy secretary of defense.
The steaks, chops, seafood, chicken and other culinary delights $75,000 will buy is for a good cause -- wounded veterans of the global war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan being treated at Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Navy Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md.
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England thanked Hal Koster and Marty O'Brien, co-owners of the famous steakhouse, for expressing their appreciation for U.S. servicemen and women by hosting the Friday Night Dinners Reunion Celebration for the past three years.
He also thanked Jim Mayer, a Department of Veterans Affairs employee and a volunteer at Walter Reed who helped start the steak night celebration for patients three years ago.
England acknowledged the presence of servicemembers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and have attended steak night at Fran O'Brien's restaurant. "These magnificent men and women wearing the uniform of our nation are part of Operation Warfighter Program (for) wounded servicemembers in the Pentagon as part of their recovery," England explained. "We also have people here from Walter Reed and Bethesda who care for and take care of all these people who are recovering."
England also recognized several members of DoD's America Supports You team for showing their commitment to servicemen and women, particularly those who have been wounded.
Stephen D. Bryen, president of Finmeccanica, Inc.'s USA affiliate, said Fran O'Brien's owners "demonstrated the initiative in insight when they decided to honor America's heroes by opening the restaurant to them."
"The gesture proved to be an invaluable part of the rehabilitation process for our soldiers and heroes, an important milestone on the road to recovery," he continued. "When it became clear that Hal and Marty couldn't do this on their own, others joined in."
Finmeccanica, a global aerospace and defense company, played an important role in contributing funds and raising money from colleagues in the air and space community.
"We're donating this for the troops, for the wounded soldiers," Bryen said. "I have a daughter in the Army serving in Iraq, so I know a little bit about what our soldiers are doing from her and the sacrifices they're making. We just wanted to do something to pay back a little bit of what we could to help them out and to get their lives moving again, which is what the purpose of these dinners really is."
His daughter, Maj. Gabrielle Bryen, is serving in Baqubah, Iraq, with the 4th Infantry Division.
"As long as the war keeps going and there are wounded veterans out there we're going to keep it going," O'Brien said of the Friday night dinners.
Holding a replica of the $75,000 check presented to Washington's Fran O'Brien's Stadium Steakhouse are co-owner Marty O'Brien and Pier Francesco Guarguaglini (right), chairman and chief executive officer of the Finmeccanica, Inc., of Rome, Italy. The company donated the money to help the restaurant provide free steak dinners to wounded servicemembers. Standing in the background are servicemembers recuperating from wounds suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. Photo by Rudi Williams
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Navy wife
Research Director
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 353
Location: Arlington, VA & Ft. Worth, TX
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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Becca,
The beauty of Fran O'Briens was that the owners, out of their own pockets, began the tradition of inviting the wounded to the restaurant and paying for their dinners. I remember an article in the Washington Times that told how popular the dinners had become and what a strain it was financially for them to continue them. Then people began donating to them, and, as one of the people who stand outside Walter Reed on the Friday nights we're in town, it is a joy to see the charter bus pull in and when the driver turns on the lights, we can see the faces of the wounded soldiers! They have been treated, feted, and honored and no one deserves it more than these young men and women. Apparently what they really like is the private atmosphere of Fran O'Briens. I can not imagine that same atmosphere being re-created in one of the Hilton's massive dining rooms. I read a lot of the questions for the Hilton on Andi's world and it will be interesting to see what the management has to say in response.
Navy wife
PS
I'm coming back from Texas to attend the milblogging conference with our son, and something tells me that we'll all be at Fran O'Briens afterwards! |
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becca1223
PO3
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 293
Location: Colonial Heights, VA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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Navy wife,
I just want to make this point clear...my post wasn't meant to be directed negatively towards Fran O'Brien's in any way. It was meant to be directed strickly towards the Hilton Hotels Corp. and their greed.
I have never met the two owners of Fran O'Briens, but I know without a doubt that they are wonderful men. The owners, Marty O'Brien and Hal Koster, of Fran O'Brien's deserve their own award for their gracious hospitality towards injured US troops and their families.
And, I agree with you, Navy wife, the Capital Hilton Hotel will never be able to recreate the private atmosphere of Fran O'Briens!...but I think the Hilton Hotel is too stupid to realize this.
Becca
P.S. It is a great thing you and others are doing by going to Walter Reed to show your support for our injured troops. From one gracious and proud American to another...Thank you!
God Bless Our Troops! |
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lonevoice
Lt.Jg.
Joined: 16 Sep 2004
Posts: 105
Location: OKC and God help me, stuck in Wichita now...
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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I'm #391.
I can't believe the Hilton. Maybe they'll end up like the Ramada chain did, nothing but franchises and cut corners.
_________________
It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.
-Mother Teresa
If it's not a baby, you're not pregnant.
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