Many of the folks who live at the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol have never been to Wright’s Farm in Burrillville.

Monday, though, upwards of three dozen of those vets got a taste of the famous Sunday dinner, Italian style that’s served at the spacious facility, courtesy of the Tri-City Elks.

“We’re giving them a taste of Wright’s Farm right here in Warwick,” said Mark Eaton, a ranking Rhode Island Elks official and past Exalted Ruler at Lodge 14 on West Shore Road. “Our veterans will have salad, macaroni, roasted chicken, French fries and more today and more.”

More?

“We can’t forget dessert and today we’re giving them something they probably don’t get where they live,” Eaton went on. “Every one of these veterans is going to enjoy a personalized banana split, with different flavor ice cream, M&Ms…as well as whipped cream.”

Monday was the fifth time in as many years that the Tri-City Elks hosted folks from the RI Veterans Home in Bristol in honor of the 73rd Anniversary of D-Day. That’s the name affixed to the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944 that resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control.

As history has it, it was codenamed Operation Overload and the battle began on June 6, 1944 when 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning and the Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

Thus, the Elks made Monday special in a number of other ways for each of the visiting veterans, as some 23 members volunteered to serve lunch and non-alcoholic beverages during the fun-filled luncheon that also featured bit of pomp and circumstance.

That’s when Lodge 14 member Mike Senecal, a U.S. Air Force veteran conducted a ceremony featuring the proper way to fold a flag that had flown over the RI Veterans Cemetery in Exeter and later presented it to Tri-City Exalted Ruler Lori Eaton for use at the local Warwick lodge.

There was another moving moment Monday, as well.

When buses carrying the veterans arrived after the trek from Bristol, five members of the U.S. Army National Guard Headquarters in Warwick, who were decked out in fatigue garb, arrived and helped each veteran get safely off the vehicle and escorted to their seats inside Tri-City’s ground level dining room.

“We love those guys,” Lori Eaton said of Guard officers Paul Bouvier, Christopher Griffin, Alexander Tedesco, Ross Boehm and Benjamin Riel. “They helped make today special for our veterans.”

So did Joe Flammand, an 85-year-old Warwick resident and Korean War veteran who served as official service host.

Likewise, his son Jim assisted Lodge 14’s master chef Mark Eaton with the cooking and David “Chuck” Holm volunteered as the day’s disc jockey. Tri-City members who worked the luncheon were: Ann Licciardi, the Eatons, Carol and Cookie Delory, Cheryl Scanlon, Charles and Maureen Nelson, Paul Amirault, Pat Chamberlin, Jane Olney Bailey, Noel Petrisce, Ray Cormier, Joe and Jim Flammand, Berry Manna, Frank Murphy, Marilyn Walaska, Janet Murphy, Steve Carmody and Kevin Lee.