On a chilly Sunday morning before the sun came up, about a dozen of Mike Osenkowski’s friends gathered at the American Legion hall that houses Post 982 in Unity.
Just hours after the bar closed, guys like Dave O’Barto and Patrick “Rabbit” Quinn, members of the Sons of the American Legion, headed to the kitchen. They turned on the lights, put on the coffee, heated up the griddle and began mixing the pancake batter and unpacking the eggs, sausage and potatoes. In a short time, they began filling the buffet table that would feed scores of friends and neighbors who lined up to plunk down $6 a head, as well as the Vets, who eat for free.
Mike would have been proud.
He might have taken issue with his friends’ decision to label this event the Michael Osenkowski Memorial Veterans Breakfast Buffet. But he would have been happy to see them working together and having a good time in the community he loved.
His twin sister, Mary Stauffer, of Greensburg, said her brother loved the Legion, the great outdoors and his many friends.
Osenkowski was 58 when he died in April 2018 of cancer.
But more than a dozen years earlier Osenkowski, Quinn and their friends helped launch American Legion Post 982’s Sons of the American Legion or SAL program. Their SAL chapter that numbers 160 members as well as six junior members includes men— many now in their 40s, 50s and 60s— whose parents or grandparents had served in the military and were eligible for membership in the Legion.
Members of the SAL are committed to supporting the organization their parents and grandparents — members of generations that made America great when they reported to serve in its military — built in this rural community on the outskirts of Latrobe.
“This was one of his passions,” Stauffer said, as she poured drinks and welcomed friends and neighbors to the breakfast buffet.
Like her late twin brother, Stauffer is committed to the organization. She’s president of the auxiliary.
They’ll hold another breakfast later this spring.
Vets like Al Nagel, a Vietnam Veteran and member of the Legion appreciate their efforts.
Nagel, 76, and his wife, Marge, who are celebrating 55 years of marriage, joined two other couples, longtime friends of theirs, for breakfast at the Legion hall.
They laughed, boasting that the three couples married 55, 44 and 51 years respectively, represent more than 150 years of wedded bliss among them.
Their easy camaraderie spoke of many years of friendship.
Once among the younger members of the Legion, Nagel and his friends now make up the core of the post’s 294 active members.
In a region where military service remains a core value of the community, they’re hoping to break the 300 member mark soon.
“I’m a member and I could eat for free, but I paid. They support us,” said Nagel, who sported a black campaign cap that told of his service in Vietnam.
SAL members like Dave O’Barto, are happy to be a part of their community.
“I do it for the Vets,” O’Barto said, carrying an empty steam tray back to the kitchen.
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