There's Welcome Aplenty For Sailors On Thanksgiving
(WBBM) - The Great Lakes Naval Training Center had a little problem. More than 5,000 recruits and other sailors are on the base, many away from home at Thanksgiving for the first time.
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The U.S. Navy likes to see as many of them as possible get away for a traditional Thanksgiving before they ship off to serve the country.
Enter the generosity of area families, churches, VFW halls and businesses.
Great Lakes says every sailor--nearly 2,000 in all--who wanted to get off base this Thanksgiving will do so.
600 of them will have dinner with local families.
More than 1,200 others will join larger gatherings.
"This is, for a lot of them, their first time away from home for Thanksgiving. This is people in the area opening up their homes to give them a home-cooked meal for Thanksgiving and a little taste of home," said John Shepard, public affairs officer at Great Lakes.
The VFW Post in Villa Park normally hosts about 50 recruits.
It will have 200 this year thanks to lots of donations, everything from turkeys and pizzas to computers and video games.
The post is inviting anyone to stop by and talk to the recruits.
Visitor are asked to remember to bring their cell phones, so the recruits can call home.
