America Supports You: Chefs Let Wounded Troops Taste Gratitude

America Supports You ^ | Samantha L. Quigley

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2007 – In an effort to lift spirits and say “thank you” during the holiday season, 10 area chefs presented recovering servicemembers and their families with a mouth-watering meal last night.

Army Staff Sgt. Mia Sidlasky receives a bowl of stew during the fifth annual Virginia Ann Wiedmaier Holiday Dinner prepared by local chefs for injured troops and their families at the Mologne House Hotel at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Dec. 2, 2007. Sidlasky is recovering from a broken back and internal injuries she suffered in July 2006 in Iraq. Photo by Linda Hosek   
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

“As chefs here in the nation’s capital, we do a lot of fundraisers for a lot of different organizations, but this one means so much,” said Chef Robert Wiedmaier, owner of Marcel’s and Brasserie Beck, in the dining room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Mologne House. “For us to be able to come up here at Christmas and use our talents to do something really nice for them makes us feel good, and hopefully they warm their bellies and feel really good about it.”

The residents dined on fare that included barbequed brisket, beef stew with potato puree and roasted chestnut soup, among other delicious entrees. Two restaurants provided pecan pie and other assorted deserts.

The idea for the dinner, which is completely apolitical, Wiedmaier said, started with his mother, Virginia Ann Wiedmaier. While a patient at Walter Reed, she told her son he needed to go to the hospital and cook for the wounded troops.

The event, which was renamed the Virginia Ann Wiedmaier Holiday Dinner when she passed away a little more than two years ago, celebrated its fifth year last night.

Wiedmaier, whose father is a retired Army colonel, said the dinners would continue “as long as we need to keep doing it.”

“It’s in honor of my mother … so I feel strongly about it,” he said. “I’m also hoping that one day we won’t have to do this any more.”

Until that day arrives, the dinner is just the best medicine the doctors can’t order, said Pete Anderson, manager of Mologne House.

“It’s kind of a compilation of the community coming together and taking care of the servicemembers … and showing them a good time,” he said. “I think it’s as beneficial for all of the restaurants to come up here and be around the servicemembers as it is for the servicemembers to come and enjoy some really, really wonderful food.”

The servicemembers tended to be of like opinion.

“It was fantastic,” said Army Spc. Cory Smith, who’s recovering from injuries to his right eye and hand. “(I tried) everything; really, everything.”

Army Spc. Travis Webb, a bilateral leg amputee, agreed the food was good, but said the event was a step better than just a good meal.

“It was better than the food I ate in Iraq and in the hospital,” he said. “We appreciate people coming out here and doing stuff like this.”

Stuff like the dinner serves as a reminder to the troops that they still have support back home, said Adrienne Trout, vice president of communications and development for United Service Organizations of Metropolitan Washington.

“It’s not just the meal,” she said. “I think it’s a symbol that America is behind them, that people are thinking of them and they’re not forgotten.”

USO of Metropolitan Washington has helped to organize the event from the first year, and once again provided volunteers to help out at last night’s event. USO volunteers helped to hand out door prizes and took boxed meals to hospital inpatients.

For the second year in a row, USO volunteers also took the same meal to sailors and Marines recovering at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.

As the evening concluded and Santa Claus finished handing out gifts to the children, the chefs gathered in the lobby to thank the servicemembers for their sacrifices. But they weren’t the last thanks the troops and their families would receive.

Vice Adm. John G. Cotton, chief of the Navy Reserve and commander of the Navy Reserve Force, offered his gratitude and holiday greetings on behalf of the Defense Department and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

“Of all the countries in the world, there’s about 112 constitutions, (but) there’s only one constitution that starts with the word ‘We,’” he said. “We’re special. But we’re extra special because of our forces we send overseas to give peace and freedom to other countries like you all have done in Afghanistan (and) in Iraq … so they can enjoy the words ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ and celebrate their happy holidays and their own religions in their own way.”

Editor's Note: To find out about more individuals, groups and organizations that are helping support the troops, visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America Supports You directly connects military members to the support of the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their quest to find meaningful ways to support the military community.

Biographies:
Vice Adm. John G. Cotton, USN

Related Sites:
Photo Essay
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Mologne House
America Supports You

[SandRat]

WOW! Just WOW!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thank you, Chef Robert Wiedmaier, and all you other chefs, for cooking for our troops.

[ishabibble]

Lovely story!

[TASMANIANRED]

Blessings on them.

[ExcursionGuy84]

I would SO LOVE to do a special dinner & dessert for a (wounded) veteran [I have mastered the art of grilled flank steak & tiramisu].

Anyone know of some wounded warriors in South FLorida?

[SandRat]

Nope. AFB in Tampa, Navy Base in Key West, Hurlburt Field near Pensacola.

[KeyLargo]

Who can you trust ? not politicians

Enlightening

Below is some very interesting data reference deaths in the military.
I guarantee you will not read this in your local newspaper nor will you
see it on the daily news broadcast. I pray this will you to enlighten folks
around you to the brave and courageous young people serving in our military.

Deaths in the Military

1980 .......... 2,392
1981 .......... 2,380
1982 .......... 2,318
1983 ........ 2,465
1984 .......... 1,999
1985 .......... 2,252
1986 ......... 1,984
1987 .......... 1,983
1988 .......... 1,819
1989 ......... 1,636
1990 ......... 1,508
1991 .......... 1,787
1992 ......... 1,293
1993 .......... 1,213
1994 ......... 1,075
1995 ......... 1,040
1996 .......... 974
1997 .......... 817
1998 ......... 826
1999 .......... 795
2000 ......... 774
2001 ...... .... 890
2002 .......... 1007
2003 ......... 1,410 [534*]
2004 .......... 1,887 [900*]
2005 ......... [919*]
2006 ......... [920*]

Figures so noted with an asterisk (*) indicates deaths as a result of
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

You may initially feel confused when you look at these figures
—especially
when you see that in 1980, during the term of President Jimmy Carter,
there
were 2,392 US military fatalities. What this clearly indicates is that
our
media and our liberal politicians pick and choose and tend to present
only
those facts that support their agenda driven reporting. Another fact
our
left media and politicians like to slant is that these brave men and
women
losing their lives are minorities. Wrong again - The latest census
shows the
following:

European descent (white) ..... 69.12%
Hispanic .... 12.5%
African American ..... 12.3%
Asia n ..... 3.7%
Native American .... 1.0%
Other ..... 2.6%

The fatalities over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom are:

European descent (white) .... 74.31%
Hispanic .... 10.74%
African American ... 9.67%
Asian ..... 1.81%
Native American .... 1.09%
Other .... 2.33%

These statistics are published by DOD and may be viewed at:

HYPERLINK

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

For the second year in a row, USO volunteers also took the same meal to sailors and Marines recovering at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.

Maryland "Freak State" PING!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

For the second year in a row, USO volunteers also took the same meal to sailors and Marines recovering at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.

Maryland "Freak State" PING!