Gratitude on Veterans Day best served with a side of white rice

BY EILEEN BRADY
THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO

This Sunday, if you want to personally thank a veteran, just turn left at the sweet-and-sour chicken. You’ll likely run into someone who has fought for your freedom. 
If you want to thank someone who has gone out of his way to make those veterans feel special, just look behind the counter at No. 1 China Buffet. 
As he has done for at least 12 years -- first in Hillsboro and now in Wilmington -- Billy Kong has opened the doors of his Chinese restaurant to military veterans, offering them his appreciation and a free meal. 
A man who was 12 years old when his family moved to New York City from the Fujian Province in China now hosts what has become Wilmington’s preeminent celebration of Veterans Day. 
For Kong, it’s simply a way to give back. 
“That’s the best way for me to express myself, to say thank you,” he says. 
For those who’ve seen the gratitude on the faces of the veterans, it’s a stirring display of generosity.
“It’s amazing. It’s just packed from the time he opens to the time he closes,” says Keith Knauff, who owns Knauff Satellite Sales and Service in New Vienna. Knauff has gone along when his brother, Phil Knauff, who served in the Army

in the early 1980s, has enjoyed his Veterans Day meal at Kong’s restaurant.

The veterans often wear ballcaps bearing the names of their branch of service or their battleship or their military rank. They greet each other as if they’re attending an annual family reunion. 
“It just overwhelms me every year how many people are there,” Keith Knauff says. 
About 800 veterans from Clinton, Highland, Fayette and Warren counties show up each year to break bread -- or fried wontons -- with their brothers in arms. Kong brings in his entire family to help him prepare for the extremely busy day. 
Billy Kong’s generous spirit doesn’t surprise Keith Knauff, who has witnessed other examples over the years. 
Knauff remembers once seeing Fred Hudson, a World War II veteran who enlisted from Sabina at age 17 and fought in the Battle of the Bulge at age 19, talking about how he’d somehow lost his cane. 
Kong turned to Knauff and said, “Watch the place for a minute,” then went to Littleton Respiratory Homecare and purchased a brand-new cane. 
“He had it hanging on the back of (Hudson’s) chair,” Knauff says, noting that the story is just one of many such big-hearted gestures. 
Fred Hudson died in 2010, one of the World War II veterans the nation loses every 90 seconds, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2009, Kong took photos of every World War II veteran who ate at his restaurant on Veterans Day, and he proudly points to the collage of snapshots that still hangs on the wall: 32 of the Greatest Generation, all gathered on one day in Wilmington. They’re smiling and posing and grateful, though Kong insists it is he who is grateful. 
“The vets -- they’ve done the job. Cooking is simple to me,” he says.
Over the past several years, many national restaurant chains and retailers have begun offering Veterans Day specials and discounts -- never expected, but much appreciated. Olive Garden, Applebee’s and Golden Corral are among them. Busch Gardens, Sea World and Disney World are some of the bigger companies that have generously offered R&R, along with bed-and-breakfasts around the United States and Canada.
Locally, the options are a little more limited. But other businesses here step up each year, too, including Damon’s Grill, which will offer all veterans and active-duty personnel 50 percent off any entree of their choice on Sunday. Lowe’s offers a 10 percent discount each day to active-duty and retired military, and it is expanded to honor all veterans on Veterans Day. 
Some chain restaurants offer a free sandwich or a discount; veterans should check with their favorite place both Sunday and Monday. Even the smallest gesture can mean a lot. 
American Legion Post 49 will host a carry-in lunch around 11 a.m., following the 10:15 a.m. Veterans Day services at the Veterans Memorial at the Clinton County Courthouse with guest speaker Charles Day.
There are also generous souls who thank veterans on their own, such my friend Jill Thompson, who has been known to pick up the tab for entire tables of military members. I’ve seen her do it for a large group of airmen in uniform dining out near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. A waitress in Wilmington tells me she’s witnessed Jill’s repeated generosity in town as well.
Ohio is sixth in the nation for veteran population, and my family is teeming with veterans. I’ve heard them recall the instances, however brief, when someone has gone out of their way to thank them. They remember when others remember.