Veterans blocked from Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Dallas

Okay, it has to be hard to turn a nonagenarian away from a restaurant, right? How about one who’s a decorated World War II hero who spent two years in a POW camp and five of his buddies? Well, this is what happened at the up-market Five Sixty restaurant, a Wolfgang Puck property in Dallas.

Their transgression: failing to meet the dress code.

The vets were holding their annual reunion; they were survivors of the “Black Thursday,” a 1943 German bombing mission. If bending the rules is ever warranted, these are the guys who have earned it. Yet, clad in baseball caps, shorts and POW t-shirts, they weren’t able to strike the necessary pose to get in.

According to USA Today:

“I figure if I spent two years in a POW camp, I could have handled the privilege of sitting in that fancy restaurant a few minutes,” said 93-year-old Jay Coberly, a member of the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association and a bombardier with the decorated 8th Army Air Force, known as the Mighty 8th. “We’ve been all over the country, and we’ve never had this kind of problem. Dallas must be a first-class town.”

The restaurant has, unsurprisingly, taken action, sending the vets two bottles of Scotch, a written apology and an invitation come back to Five Sixty. The group isn’t going to take the offer, though, reports USA Today: “We were humiliated once,” she said, “so I don’t think they have any interest in stepping back in there.”

[photo by respres via Flickr]