Real War Stories Are Told At This Lunch Gathering

Have you ever had lunch with someone who was a prisoner of war?

How about a man who stormed the shores of Omaha Beach on D-Day?

Or someone whose ship was sunk during the Korean Conflict? Or a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War?

You could have shared a bite to eat to all of these people and many others like them during a noontime gathering last week.

They are all part of the Third Thursday Lunch Group.

The military veterans from all over Contra Costa County and other neighboring communities get together on the third Thursday of every month to have lunch and swap stories of the experiences on the battlefield.

"It re-enforces the fact they still have comrades," said Dick Ingraham of Walnut Creek, the current president of the informal group and a World War II Army veteran.

The group started in 2000 when Bob Tharratt, a Walnut Creek resident and World War II Army veteran,  was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross as well as the Prisoner of War Medal.

Tharratt started getting calls from other veterans who read about his recognition. He set up a lunch and five of the guys got together.

They decided to meet on the third Thursday of every month. Word of the monthly luncheons spread and the group grew quickly.

Now, the Third Thursday organization has 110 members. They used to meet in Walnut Creek, but they outgrew that particular facility. Now, they get together at the Denny's in Concord.

Last Thursday, more than 60 veterans crammed into a back room of the restaurant.

As they do at every meeting, a microphone was passed around at the beginning and each veteran introduced themselves.

They were at least two former prisoners of war. At least two men who survived the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, too.

At least two survivors from the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 that turned the tide in World War II were present.

So were an Army Green Beret, a Coast Guard veteran, a Navy submarine crew member and a Pearl Harbor bombing survivor.

There were men who fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Also present were a Korean War veteran whose ship was sunk and a helicopter pilot who flew missions over Vietnam for two years.

At each lunch, one veteran is given the microphone and the chance to describe his experience.

Last week, it was Lynn Freeman of Concord, an Army veteran of two wars.

Freeman described how he joined the Army in 1939 when he was 16 and how he eventually was sent to fight in Europe in World War II.

His 406th infantry unit traveled from France to Belgium to Holland. They eventually got involved in battles in the Ruhr Valley in Germany.

"We were happy to go. We were ready go," Freeman recalled.

Freeman was wounded and spent 14 days in a hospital in Belgium. When he returned to action, there were only five of his 25-man unit left. They were part of the brigade that marched toward Berlin near the end of the war.

In the early 1950s, Freeman also served in the Korean War.

During the lunch, he described in detail the battles his 23rd infantry unit fought against Chinese soldiers who have crossed into the Korean Peninsula to aid North Korea.

Freeman abruptly stopped his story shortly after his Korean War tales with the typical modesty shown by his generation.

"I think you've heard enough from me," he said.

At December's Third Thursday luncheon, there won't be a featured speaker. The microphone will be passed around and veterans will talk about a Christmas they spent in the military.