Wounded servicemembers fill plates, nourish spirits at weekly Steak Night

Wounded servicemembers fill plates, nourish spirits at weekly Steak Night
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, April 22, 2005


WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s Friday at Fran O’Brien’s Stadium Steakhouse in the basement of Capital Hilton hotel, just blocks from the White House, and there’s a party in the back room where the discreet dark of the main restaurant suddenly gives way to a glare of light, smoke and noise.

At first glance, it looks like a typical gathering of military members and their families.

But look again: The young men with close-cut hair gathering around the bar are deftly managing casts, bandages and prosthetic limbs as they bum cigarettes and tell jokes.

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