67 years ago yesterday, on October 14, 1943, on a day known as "Black Thursday," one of World War II's most deadly air battles took place deep inside Germany. Sixty B-17s, were shot down, killing around 600 airmen. Survivors were caught by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft III, later the inspiration for the movie The Great Escape.
Survivors of that particular Nazi POW camp meet once a year in an American city. Up til now those cities welcome them as the honored heroes they are.
This year six of the surviving veterans, along with their wives and kids, came to Dallas. The POWs are now in their late 80s, early 90s. When they get together they wear baseball caps commemorating their Mighty 8th Unit and POW T-shirts.
When the Mighty 8th Surviving Veterans took the elevator to the top of the Reunion Tower, for lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Five Sixty, the hostess informed the Six that they were not properly attired, that the restaurant had a "business casual" code.
The spokesmen for the group, Jay Coberly, 93, took the rejection in stride, saying, "We've been all over the country, and we've never had this kind of problem. Dallas must be a first-class town."
The men's wives and kids did not take the rude, dumb, snub quietly, with Jay Coberley's daughter telling the hostess, "Do you realize these veterans fought for your freedom and your way of life and you can't see your way clear to let them up to get a view of the city?"
I do not know by what means Wolfgang Puck's organization (and Dallas) realized they had a public relations nightmare on their hands, but damage control went into play. The restaurant's manager sent the Vets two bottles of Scotch, with an apology and an invite to return to the restaurant.
The Mayor of Dallas, Tom Leppert, sent each Vet a letter along with a gold lapel pin with the City of Dallas seal.
The men toured around the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, during which time they received the apologies. But, they left town without returning to the Five Sixty, saying being humiliated once was enough.
I have a personal reason why this story resonated with me. But I don't want to talk about it right now.
4 comments:
No soup for you, war heroes! ! Said the snobb
y, and possibly history-challanged public school products. No business for you, said the history-making heroes.
The restaurant is not even open for lunch, so NO ONE would be allowed to enter. Also, the observation deck is NOT allowed to the public, and that level is used for storage. So if they were there, for dinner, with reservations, thats one thing, but to show up during the day and expect to be let onto the observation deck would not have happened, regardless of who it was or how they were dressed.
It wasn't for lunch, it was at 5PM, and they were just going to have a quick drink.
Everytime a war vet cries, we have to let them do something they want to do that bends the rules. Part of the rules these people fought for was the right to make a restraunt with dress codes. I am glad they did what they did but they should have accepted the apology in stride and not due to what a floor manager and seater said. Ridiculous on all levels.
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