43
Veterans appreciate acknowledgement from businesses, community members
Photo
Jack Kidd, left, and Ken Jakubec, both of Austintown, have coffee at Panera Bread there. The Panera Bread and O’Charley’s restaurants owned by Covelli Enterprises will honor veterans like them with special meal deals Tuesday. Also offering Veterans Day deals will be Applebee’s, Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, Great Clips and a list of other businesses.
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Pride shines off of Ken Jakubec as he talks about his time in the Marine Corps.
When the Austintown native signed up for the Marines, like many others, he didn’t realize what he was getting into.
But he went anyway.
He could have been sent to Vietnam, but instead he was placed in Washington, D.C., to work on the helicopters for the troops.
“Now, there is so much respect for veterans,” he said.
That respect is found here the Mahoning Valley and the nation. Businesses, large and small, are giving veterans and active-duty military members a token of appreciation for going into the danger zone.
You can’t do too much for veterans, said Sam Covelli, owner of Warren-based Covelli Enterprises — the largest Panera Bread franchisee with more than 250 locations.
Sam’s late father, Albert Covelli Sr., was in the Army in World War II.
On Tuesday, the Covelli-operated Panera Bread restaurants in the Valley will honor veterans and military service members with a free You-Pick-Two — a combination of soup, sandwiches, pasta, a flatbread or salad. All veterans have to do is wear a uniform or present a military ID or discharge papers. The Covelli-operated O’Charley’s restaurants also will offer a free $9.99 entree.
“I commend all of the other restaurants that do it,” Jakubec said. “It is just nice to give the veterans back something.”
Jakubec joined the military in 1964 at just 17 when he was 5 feet 9 inches and 108 pounds. In 13 weeks of boot camp he got up to 5 feet 11 inches and 151 pounds.
“No one recognized me,” he said.
Jakubec was one of five volunteers out of 140 to go into hydraulics. He said he had no clue what he would be doing, but it worked out for him. He was sent to the Quantico Marine base and worked on the helicopters. He said today those people are nominated, not volunteers.
“Am I proud?” he said. “Absolutely.”
It was time to come home to Austintown in 1968 for Jakubec.
He now works as the manager of Quaker Steak and Lube in Austintown, and he is a member of the Austintown Board of Education.
At Quaker Steak in Austintown, veterans and military members are always given 20 percent off, and on Tuesday, they will be offered half off anything on the menu.
“It’s not to get them in there; it is just to pay them back,” he said.
Jakubec also is serving on the Veterans Committee for the Austintown Fitch High School Veterans Day ceremony with Jack Kidd, another Austintown native and veteran.
Kidd served from 1962 to 1967 in the Air Force. He said he went because he wanted to get out of Austintown and he needed to grow up. He was sent to Texas and then Anchorage, Alaska, as a supply sergeant for C-130 aircraft. He left in 1967 to come back to Austintown and help his father with his ailing mother.
“I never regret coming home to help,” he said. “What I regret is not going back in.”
Kidd fondly recalls the visible reminder of the respect others in the Valley have for the veterans with the dedication ceremony he helped to establish for the Fitch Veterans Memorial. Last year’s dedication put thousands in the seats at Falcon Stadium to remember Kidd’s two friends and classmates, Army 2nd. Lt. Charles “Chas” Brown and Marine Sgt. James “Jimmy” Prommersberger, who both died heroically in action during the Vietnam War, and others.
“Today, people have a lot of respect for what veterans have done,” Kidd said.
In addition to Covelli’s restaurants, Applebee’s, Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, Great Clips and a list of other businesses are offering deals for veterans and military members.
“The greatest thing you can do for a veteran on Veterans Day is say thanks,” Jakubec said.