S. Fayette man helps share veterans’ stories

The mission of the Veterans Breakfast Club is to create communities to gather veterans’ stories to ensure this living history is never forgotten, and people can be educated and inspired.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, World War II veterans are dying at a rate of 492 per day. About 620,000 veterans of the 16 million who served were alive at the end of 2016.

South Fayette resident Dan Cavanaugh did not know those statistics years ago when, as a young man in his 20s, he began sending his father a card on Veterans Day.

Over the years, his father rarely shared a war snippet, mostly keeping everything to himself and didn’t talk about his experiences.

Years later, Cavanaugh was the owner of Cavanaugh’s Bridal Show, which kept and him his wife, Donna, busy. Yet, in the back of his mind was a need to record the family history.

Finally, when Cavanaugh was in his early 40s, his father agreed to be interviewed.

On Easter Sunday 2001, his father went into detail about being one of the first soldiers to enter the barracks of the concentration camp in Linz, Austria, and how he also was among the first American groups to go through the gas chambers. Although nearly 60 years had passed, he still distinctly remembered the “stink” and the horrific odor that was everywhere.

For four years, they continued to talk and Dan recorded. His father died May 31, 2004.

Although he had written down the family history, his father’s stories resonated with him. Like many veterans of that era, William David Cavanaugh Jr. insisted he was not a hero and did not want to be portrayed as one. He insisted he was just doing his job — his duty — by serving his country, and had been one of the lucky ones to return.

In 2006, Cavanaugh happened upon a poster in the window of a restaurant advertising a bus trip taking World War II veterans to the newly opened World War II monument in Washington, D.C.

Something stirred within him and he wondered if other veterans — like his father — had waited so long to tell their stories. He called the trip’s organizer, who stated that he did not need any volunteers to help with the trip. But when Cavanaugh mentioned a desire to come aboard the bus and record the history of the veterans, the man said he had been trying to find someone who would do exactly that.

Cavanaugh became the bus historian and, from there, the Veterans Breakfast Club was founded.

He teamed up with Todd DePastino, a local professor and history writer, to host the events where veterans of all ages and military theaters could gather and share. In 2010, they hosted in four local locations. In 2011, the group received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and, by early 2012, they began recording, preserving and cataloging the stories of local veterans.

In 2016, more than 3,000 veterans gathered at 15 different locations during the year and told their stories.

DePastino, the executive director, carries on Cavanaugh’s idea of preserving history.

To join the group on a day trip, to volunteer, or to talk about recording a veteran’s oral history, call 412-623-9029 or visit veteransbreakfastclub.com to learn about upcoming locations for the breakfasts.

A free post-9/11 veterans storytelling event will be held at the Red Ring Bar & Grille at Duquesne University on March 30 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Admission is free. There will be free food and a cash bar. RSVP at 412-212-6457 to attend.

Charlotte Smith is a Tribune-Review contributing writer. Reach her at 724-693-9441 or charlotte59@comcast.net.