A tribute fit for a king: Local Burger King honors veterans
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
An empty seat holds space for POWs, and after seeing the memorial tribute inside the Burger King along Jefferson Avenue, a customer returned to complete the table setting with a chair dressing honors for those gone but never forgotten.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Peggy Oliverio, center, prints and frames photos submitted by family members and friends before Burger King team lead Shirl Ralston, left, hangs those images with care on the tribute wall. The project was initiated by general manager Sheila Johnson, second from right. Also pictured are veterans J.D. Swartzfeger, second from left, and Bill Miller, far right.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Friends Bill Nelson, left, and J.D. Swartzfeger, both of Washington, met at the Jefferson Avenue Burger King, which serves as a community space for locals. Both Washington military veterans are featured on the tribute wall started by general manager Shelia Johnson and Burger King regular Peggy Oliverio.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
While waiting for their orders, visitors to the Jefferson Avenue Burger King often snap photos or study the faces pictured on the restaurant’s veterans memorial wall. The wall began with 24 photos last October, grew to about 100 pictures by Christmas, and now 158 veterans are commemorated through the tribute.
In perhaps the unlikeliest of places there stands a veterans memorial fit for kings.
The Burger King on Jefferson Avenue in Washington has dedicated a wall to area military veterans, where their framed photographs hang alongside word art honoring all who have served.
“It’s my life,” said Sheila Johnson, general manager, who unknowingly began the memorial in early 2021. “It’s a way of honoring people. It shows an amount of respect to everybody who has done what they’ve done.”
The tribute started around Memorial Day of last year, when Johnson decorated a bare space between walls and ceiling with framed 8-by-10 photos of notable veterans, including Queen Elizabeth II, and military craft. One day, a customer asked Johnson if he could add a few things to the wall, and she said sure.
The customer, Dusty Hopkins, known locally for carrying an American flag around town, returned to add a painted canvas bearing the inscription, “Honoring all who served,” and a couple of military artworks to the small collection.
It wasn’t much, but the new décor caught the eye of BK regulars Carmen Oliverio and his wife, Peggy, who had just completed an album in memory of her late father, Turney McClellan Ross. The album contained photographs of the U.S. Marine and letters he sent home during his time in service.
“I put everything in there, gas rationing, everything. I kind of got to know him better because I did the album,” said Oliverio, who Johnson smilingly called the brains behind the operation. “I said to her, ‘I’ll bring my dad down.’ And that was the first picture put up.”
The second photograph added to the official tribute wall depicts Bill Miller, a Washington native who served in the 82nd Airborne from 1954 to 1957.
“That’s something you want to forget,” he said.
But the wall is something he’s proud to be part of.
“I think it’s great. It makes you feel good,” Miller said.
The burgeoning project made Johnson and Oliverio feel good, too. By October, 24 photos made up the tribute, and the two set a goal to hang 50 photos (all photos are marked with the veteran’s name) by early November. On Veterans Day of last year, 52 photos graced the Burger King wall.
But “I never thought it would fill the whole wall,” said team lead Shirl Ralston, who lovingly hangs every photo.
The tribute has spilled onto a second wall; to date, 158 photographs honor 158 vets whose service spans World War I to the recent pull-out of Afghanistan. Prominent names and faces include Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi and Joe Vucic Jr., of Joe’s Bakery fame. Veterans who have passed away, as well as retired and active-duty servicemen and women, are celebrated. The memorial also features an empty place at the table to honor prisoners of war.
Burger King district manager Todd Grasee thinks the tribute in Washington is the only wall of its kind featured in a Burger King.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Grasee. “It’s a connection to our community.”
Diners from near and far often find themselves admiring the memorial while waiting for their orders. Some snap photos of the wall; others study the faces of our nation’s heroes, perhaps silently thanking them for their service.
“I served honorably for five years and four months in Canada during Vietnam,” said J.D. “Doc” Swartzfeger, a Washington native who served with the U.S. Navy UDT 21, whose uniform number hangs on the wall. “About the time I was getting out, if you were in uniform … people did not treat you too kindly. They’d spit on you and call you names. To me, personally, I don’t know. It just makes me feel good that people do this. I can’t say anything other than that.”
Johnson, whose father, uncle and son are military, said anyone who has served or knows someone in the service is invited to submit their photograph and name to be added to the wall.
“I thank that guy for getting us started on it,” said Johnson. “It was just a couple pictures. We just went from there. It’s special to me, it’s a way to keep their lives going. It’s not much to do for these people – small compensation, right? It’s a nice tribute. I hope it continues and gets bigger and bigger and bigger.”