Deli Owners to Send Salami to U.S. Troops

From the AP via The Washington Times:


The co-owners of Hobby's Deli hope to send salami to the entire 42nd Infantry Division, currently in Tikrit.
It'll take an estimated 23,000 salamis to reach that goal. But the first 2,000 or so of the dried meat - about 2 tons in all - was boxed and loaded onto a U.S. Postal Service truck Tuesday in the first phase of what the brothers dubbed "Operation Salami Drop."
"We know there are a bunch of homesick men and women over there, and to be able to do something. ... How do you put words to it? You have to do something. I can do salamis," Marc Brummer said.


How cool is this?


All have been purchased with donations of $10 per salami, including a 13-year-old girl who donated $1,000 from her bat mitzvah money.


I guess soldiers (and war) haven't changed much over the years.


The inspiration for the project was twofold. The Brummers' 82-year-old father, Sam - who owned the 95-year-old deli before his sons took over its operation - fought in World War II in France and described receiving a salami in the mail about every month and carrying it around in his backpack for weeks.
"My whole platoon would line up and I would slice pieces for them," Sam Brummer recalled. "It was very important to us."
The other source was Michael Rothman of Melville, N.Y., a college friend of Michael Brummer who is a captain in the 42nd Infantry Division. When Rothman noticed fellow soldiers taking a keen interest in the salamis he received in the mail from Brummer, the two decided to expand the operation.