For the seventh year in a row the members of the Branford Rotary Club celebrated Veterans’ Day by hosting a luncheon at the Italian-American Social Club in Branford for the following honored guests:

• Members of the Branford VFW Memorial Post No. 10186
• Members of the Branford American Legion Sundquist-Corcoran Post
• Members of the Blind Rehabilitation Unit – WH Veterans Hospital
• Members of the Branford Rotary Club who served in the military

The luncheon recognized dozens of men and women veterans who served in all branches of the US military and were deployed in a variety of campaigns including Operation Desert Storm, the Korean conflict, European theater of WW II, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Normandy invasion.

Monetary gifts on behalf of the Branford Rotary Club were distributed by Nelson Bernabucci, Y2c-WWII, Rotary Luncheon Chairman, to:

• Commander Elliott Hastings, Branford Veterans of Foreign Wars
• Commander Rich Hansen, Branford American Legion Post #83
• Coordinator Michael Rose, Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Center

Nelson Bernabucci at 88 years young, is the unsung hero of this annual event, he was instrumental in launching it and has been the catalyst behind running it for the past 7 years.

Musical entertainment was provided by Rotarian Jack Srebnik and his band as well as by Branford High School “Music Makers” under the direction of Cathy Ann Roding. It was a nice touch closing with “Imagine”, I appreciate that.

Branford Rotarians served a sit down lunch to the veterans, did all of the setup and cleanup and baked the deserts. It was all hands-on-deck for this large scale event that was perfectly executed in just under 1.5 hours. A perfect example of Service above Self.