World War II vet pays $1.5K Chick-fil-A bill for service members, families for 92nd birthday

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images

One generous World War II veteran and “regular customer” at Chick-fil-A recently paid a good deed forward in honor of his 92nd birthday, footing a $1,500 bill for active-duty service members and military families at a California location of the chicken-centric chain.

Ahead of his milestone birthday on Feb. 19, Edmund Rusinek told the OC Register that the small gesture is a something of a personal tradition.

“This tradition, so to speak, got started in 1945 when I was a draftee training in Little Rock, Arkansas. To take a break from the GI food, some of my buddies and I left base for some good ol’ Southern food,” the Rossmoor resident told the outlet. “At the restaurant, an elderly gentleman stepped up to us and asked, ‘Can you do me a favor? Will you let me buy your lunch? If you want to thank me, pass it down.’”

Forever inspired by the kind deed, Rusinek says that he’s been “passing it down” ever since.

According to the Register, Rusinek grew up in Detroit and was drafted into the Army during his freshman year as an engineering student at the University of Michigan. Deploying to serve on the Czechoslovakian border for two years as a staff sergeant through the war, the vet completed his degree in engineering when he returned stateside.

He spent his career working for North American Aviation (which later came under ownership of Rockwell, then Boeing) in Downey, California, and raised three children with his wife, Krystyna, in the tight-knit community of Rossmoor.

Now, the nonagenarian says he’s glad to be able to treat other vets and their loved ones to a surprise meal, as he resides near the Joint Forces Training Base and the Naval Weapons Station in Los Alamitos.

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