Lakeland restaurant owner honors two World War II veterans ahead of holiday

LAKELAND, Fla. - A restaurant owner in Lakeland hopes his simple gesture touches a lot of hearts this Veterans Day. 

Don Bosko is the owner of the Beef O'Brady's on South Florida Avenue in Lakeland.

"This is my Dad. A nice handsome guy. A real trooper," said Bosko as he proudly shows off a framed photograph of his father, Andrew Bosko. 

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He created a small display inside the restaurant in honor of his 101-year-old father, Andrew, who passed away just last year. Andrew was one of very few, if not the last, remaining World War II Army veterans in Polk County.

"People will get a better feel of how [the display] hits home and how it hits your heart," said Bosko. "How it touches you as a family and what it meant to us and to my grandchildren."

The table also honors his late father-in-law, William Wales, who was another World War II Army veteran who served in France.

"He's the one who lost half of his arm from shrapnel," Bosko said. 

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As an Army veteran himself, Bosko was drafted during the Vietnam War in 1969, though he stayed in the states as a researcher. He hopes people who pass by the table are reminded to never stop supporting all service men and women, before they are lost to time.

"When we left, they told us not to wear our uniforms because we may be spit on in the airports," he said.  "It was a different kind of war. That was so disrespectful for those men. Those are ones we ought to encourage today." 

The restaurant is offering a free meal to veterans with purchase of equal or greater value up to $12 this Saturday, November 11.