FORT BRAGG >> Four members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 8-8 of Lake County traveled to the Coast Guard station on Wednesday to join eight members of Flotilla 8-7 of Mendocino County and prepared a Thanksgiving luncheon for Coast Guard personnel (“coasties”) and families.
Flotilla 8-7 members roasted two turkeys, baked a ham, prepared five different kinds of dressing and made the gravy. Flotilla 8-8 provided cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green salad, bean salad and a corn casserole. Also, two loaves of homemade bread, four dozen dinner rolls and butter were provided. For dessert, two pumpkins pies, one apple pie and a custard cream pie, all homemade, were served.
Cold drinks and water were also provided as well as the plates, napkins and eating utensils. Approximately 40 dinners were served to the Fort Bragg station personnel, their wives and children and flotilla members.
“It was gratifying to have so many wives and families as well as coasties at the luncheon,” Dorothy De Lope, Flotilla 8-8 public affairs officer, stated. “The young families thoroughly enjoyed the meal and seconds were encouraged since there was more than enough food. The remaining food was refrigerated so that the coasties could enjoy the left overs later — especially the much sought after turkey sandwiches.”
For the past several years, the flotillas have prepared a Thanksgiving lunch.
“The event is always fun and greatly satisfying because it gives these young men and women who work so tirelessly keeping us safe, a brief but heartfelt sense of home and the holidays,” De Lope said.
