OOn his way to visit Israel with his family, a Los Angeles businessman came upon 400 U.S. soldiers preparing to eat their paper sack dinners during a layover in Shannon, Ireland and decided he wanted to honor them with a good warm meal.
As the regular passengers and friends were all dining at the various trendy restaurants, entrepreneur and philanthropist Shlomo Rechnitz approached the commander and told him that he wanted to treat the servicemen to the same. At first the commander said it was unnecessary, but Shlomo insisted, and the commander announced to all the soldiers that they could eat a meal at any restaurant up to $50. After the servicemen ate, the commander asked if Shlomo would share with all of them why he wanted to do this.
Rechnitz addressed the men saying,
" ...you guys risk your lives to protect me and protect my family. If I get to go out and see a whole bunch of Army soldiers and Marines, it's something that makes me proud. I'm on my way to Israel now and you guys protect them too, and I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart."
