“I feel that our vets have been overlooked, and this is my little contribution to them.” “I wanted to do something for somebody else,” she said. She’s also taken veterans on outings and driven them in parades in her 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible. She started by setting up gatherings of veterans at Weatherwood Manor, an assisted-living facility in Greensburg where her mother had stayed. Her outreach to veterans was inspired in part by her father, a World War II Army veteran who served during the liberation of France and of Nazi concentration camps, and her husband, Ron, who served with the Marines in Lebanon in the 1950s. “Without them, we wouldn’t be the freedom-loving United States of America.” “Our veterans are so deserving of it,” she writes. The dinners, Caruso said, are not part of any fundraising effort but simply are meant to honor veterans for their service. Not limited to Veterans Day, she’s arranged 23 of the dinners since March 2017, when about 70 attended the initial meal.Īdmission to the Lamplighter event cost $15, which included a menu featuring wiener schnitzel and entertainment by the Magic Moments classic rock, pop and doo-wop cover band. We do several a week.”Īmong the benefits of serving in the group, he said, is the camaraderie: “It gives us a chance to get together with other veterans and compare stories.”Ĭaruso’s dinners, as she intended, offer a similar appeal for attending veterans and their families. In addition to educational programs for school groups, he said, “We do funerals in Westmoreland County and some in Allegheny County.

“We’ve got members from all over Westmoreland County,” said Rauscher. Though Rauscher and Marshall knew few others when they arrived at the dinner, their dress uniforms, which are a requirement for members of their organization, attracted plenty of attention and started several conversations. Marshall served from 1965 to 1972, working on military vehicles stateside. Pleasant Township, who is vice president of the Armbrust veterans group.ĭuring his Army career, from 1968 to 1989, Rauscher served two tours in Vietnam, participated in the invasion of Grenada and completed a stint along the demilitarized zone in Korea. Invited to the meal by organizer Marianne Caruso of Penn Township, “We figured we’d do a little recruiting while we’re here,” said Rauscher, of Mt. Army veterans Donald Rauscher and Rich Marshall attended a Veterans Day dinner near Delmont clad in military uniforms and armed with fliers for their honor guard group.Īs they spread the news about the Armbrust Veterans Association, the pair gained some new friends among the more than 200 veterans and guests who attended the Honoring Our Veterans dinner at The Lamplighter Restaurant.

Lamplighter delmont menu calendar