Marines at HH Cottons restaurant, San Clemente, Cali.
Posted on 11/24/2023 8:57:40 AM PST by beaversmom
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (KABC) -- While most restaurants in San Clemente are closed on Thanksgiving, H.H. Cotton's is packed with special guests: U.S. Marines.
Owners Chris and Maureen Aitken have been serving a traditional Thanksgiving meal to Marines from Camp Pendleton for the last six years.
"Most of them are away for Thanksgiving for the first time in their lives," Chris said.
"We love doing it with our kids," Maureen added. "We have kids that have gone away to college and everybody comes back and comes together, and I think this event is really symbolic of San Clemente."
The Aitkens said it's a way to show their appreciation to these service members who are making a sacrifice to serve this country.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc7.com ...
Outstanding the Aitkens !!!
Ooorah!!
Thank you! You have no idea how much things like this are appreciated service members. They remember.
Beautiful traditional Americana. The way it should be.
The Aitken’s plan to host another big Thanksgiving meal next year, but they’re also looking at ways to help military service members all year long.
Well said.
Lovely thing to do.
Good bless the Aitkens.
The loneliest times for a new guy can be this time of year. The command tries to make things better by granting leave but somebody has to stay. The chow halls were decorated to make it a little better, but that was often a reminder, not home this year.
The best thing was to be invited to someone's house for dinner Still, at the end, it was the phone call home then back to the barracks or to your duty shift.
It's just another day to the rest of the world.
God bless our troops, God bless those who reach out to them and God bless America.
Golden Corral had free dinners for Veterans in honor of Veterans day. The offer started at 5. People were already lining up at 3. Is ‘free’ worth it if you have to stand in line for everything?
Semper Fi!
L
Marines at HH Cottons restaurant, San Clemente, Cali.
Marines at HH Cottons restaurant, San Clemente, Cali.
The LORD bless them!
People in the military are used to standing in line. I likely wouldn’t want to know how much of my military career was wasted standing in a line.
God bless our Marines and the Aiken family. I know what restaurant I going to spend my money in, when I get back to SoCal to visit!
God bless them! (Retired Army Officer)
A reminder, the Marines are the only branch of service that met their enlistment quotas this year. And they did so without lowering their standards or offering enlistment bonuses.
Their "bonus" is that they get to call themselves Marines.
And I type this as a Navy Chief.
I've lived on aircraft carriers. I know exactly what the chow lines looked like!
My second child is one of them. Still working his way through bootcamp. If all goes well, I will see him graduate in a couple of weeks.
Look like Marines just out of boot camp.
Bunch of 17-19 year olds on the first holiday away from home.
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