A former Marine honored the four troops killed Thursday in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with a table at a local restaurant set with upside down beer mugs, black napkins and a white plate topped with a red ribbon for each Marine killed in the shooting.
“I had no idea it was going to spread like it did,” Doug Flack, the service manager at the Texas Roadhouse on Shallowford Road, told The Washington Times. “I lost four brothers yesterday and I had to do something for them.”
Mr. Flack, who served in the Marines from 1994 to 1995, said he stayed up Thursday night collecting the things he would need to set up the memorial and set the table first thing Friday morning. The reaction from customers has been “amazing,” he said, as the memorial went viral online.
The table is set with a white table cloth and four place settings with red ribbons on white plates, black napkins and an upside-down beer mug. The booth also has a Marine Corps flag and a sign that says the table is reserved for the four fallen Marines. A photo of the table was posted online by Channel 9 News in Chattanooga.
The Marine Corps identified the four troops killed in the shooting as Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt, Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist and Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells.
Mr. Flack said the memorial will remain in place until the Marines are laid to rest.
“It’s not coming down,” he said.
• Jacqueline Klimas can be reached at jklimas@washingtontimes.com.
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