For Erie soldier, Iraq war not yet over
Published: August 24, 2010 1:15 AM EST
So the war's over. The 4th Stryker Brigade of the Army's 2nd Infantry Division packed its rucksacks and left Iraq on Thursday. They showed it on CNN. Robin Weunski watched from the bar at the Pittsburgh Inn. She and her husband have run the place since 2007. They're good to veterans: If you served, your first Patriot Missile -- a mix of Jim Beam, Sierra Mist, amaretto and sours, garnished with a small U.S. flag -- is on the house. Weunski was happy for those kids. She has been writing to soldiers since the war started. She sends boxes of socks, foot powder and Mach 3 razors, which you can use without water. And she isn't about to stop. "All day long, people kept saying, 'Isn't it great? The war is over,'" she said. "No. It isn't." She's right. The 4th Stryker group was the last formal combat brigade in Iraq, where U.S. troops have been fighting since 2003. But when they left, the tents didn't come down: About 50,000 troops are still in Iraq, advising the locals and protecting the nation's tenuous new infrastructure. Weunski knows this because her son, Joshua, is one of them. "If you don't have somebody over there, you forget there's still a war going on," she said. "That was true even before this. "I don't want people to forget." Joshua Weunski is 25. He's a forward observer for the 214th Cavalry's Bravo Company, a part of the Army's 25th Infantry Division. He left for Iraq on June 28. This is his third trip. Right away, Robin Weunski started packing boxes: baby wipes, batteries, phone cards and flea collars, which the soldiers strap to their ankles. She sends them to names taken off the rosters at www.anysoldier.com. She focuses on comfort items. "If I can make just one day in their life just a little bit easier," she said, "then it's worth it." She sometimes gets letters back from Iraq: thank-yous from a 137-degree desert. Every time, they make her cry. Rarer, but even more rewarding, are the times she gets to meet a soldier. They hear about the Pittsburgh Inn, where the hero pictures of sports stars Jaromir Jagr, Terry Bradshaw and Roberto Clemente now share wall space with photos of Spc. David K. Ash and Sgt. Albert Brown III. Weunski has hung nearly 200 military portraits. She puts a star on the frame for anyone who has actually come to the bar. She adds a tag at the bottom of the photo once the soldier is home. "One by one, they come and find me," she said. "They say, 'Take my picture and mark it 'safe.'" "I like that part." Still, she worries about running out of space. The wall is getting crowded, and the war -- CNN or not -- isn't finished. "If you served our country, you deserve a spot on my wall," she said. "I just don't want to put them up too high. I want people to see them." ROBB FREDERICK can be reached at 870-1733 or by e-mail.
Mother salutes son, soldiers on restaurant wall
Who's the new kid? What's his picture doing on the wall, mixed in with Pittsburgh Steelers hall-of-famers: Bradshaw, Franco and Jack Lambert, his linebacker smile as jagged as a jack-o'-lantern's? That's Joshua Weunski. His folks, Tom and Robin, own the place. They bought the Pittsburgh Inn, at 3725 West Lake Road, in November. They kept the menu. But they added some of their own touches, including a photo of their 22-year-old son, who once washed dishes in the kitchen. Weunski is a sergeant in the Army. He serves with the 214th Cavalry, which is part of the Army's 1st Infantry Division. In December, he left for Iraq. It's his second trip. Before we even bought this place, I told my husband, 'I'm doing something,'" Robin Weunski says. "So many people, if they don't have somebody over there, they don't even think about the war anymore." She does. She wakes with it every day. So when her son came home, having finished his first tour in February 2005, she ran down Powell Avenue, tying yellow ribbons to every tree. And the neatest thing happened: People stopped their cars to help. That's the other America: The one that volunteered for this, that signed up for the promise of college money or because of 9/11 and went off to fight a ghost army in some Mesopotamian dust bowl. The one with the bumper sticker that reads, "Land of the Free -- Because of the Brave." Robin Weunski put a version of that on her cash register. She put her son on the wall, and she started talking to other war moms. "I always tell them, 'Bring me in a picture,'" she says. And they do. So now, up there with Pittsburgh Penguins' Mario Lemieux, there is Capt. John Klinge. There's Capt. Matthew Frazier, a Marine, and Sgt. Justin Foster, whose brother is a frequent customer. There's Spc. David Ash, one of 17 soldiers the Weunskis now write to. There's a construction-paper card with a stick figure on the front. "Dear Army Soldier," it says. "I think your mamma misses you. I wish you could come home. Please be manly. Love, Julia." The Weunskis plan to add to their wall of honor. There's room for at least another dozen photos. "It means a lot to people," Robin Weunski says. "You have no idea how many people just come up and hug me. And some of them don't even have people over there. "It makes me cry every time." The Weunskis are trying to honor the tradition of the Pittsburgh Inn. The black-and-gold is still in there. But the curtains are new, and they're red, white and blue. Erie-area businesses to send Girl Scout cookies to overseas troops
By VALERIE MYERS, Erie Times-News
Published: February 26, 2011 2:00 AM EST Updated: February 26, 2011 2:33 AM EST valerie.myers@timesnews.com
Army Sgt. James Bujnowski, of Erie, had just finished a particularly difficult mission in Afghanistan. He was tired, depressed and missing his family at home. A box with his name on it waiting in his quarters lifted his spirits. It was filled with toiletries, gum and candy sent from his hometown. "When he realized it was from total strangers, he sat down and e-mailed me. After this horrible mission, he said he just sat there and smiled. He was so amazed at what strangers had done," Robin Weunski said. Weunski owns and operates the Pittsburgh Inn, 3725 West Lake Road in Millcreek Township, with her husband, Tom. With the help of their customers for the past seven years, Robin Weunski has been sending care packages to local servicemen and women deployed overseas. Now Girl Scout Cookies are going into the boxes. The Pony Express outlet at 1903 W. Eighth St. is selling Girl Scout Cookies that Weunski will pack, along with toiletries, to send to Erie-area residents deployed overseas. Cookies can also be dropped off at Pony Express or at the Pittsburgh Inn. "I've never had so many quick responses as when I e-mailed troops about Girl Scout Cookies coming," Weunski said. "They say, 'Wow. Send this kind or that kind, or any kind at all.' They are just so excited about getting them." Pittsburgh Inn patrons bought 157 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies for the military in the three days that Weunski took orders. Brownies from Millcreek Township Troop 31061 supplied the cookies and will be selling more boxes to send to local servicemen and -women during cookie-booth sales in March. Pony Express owner David Grab bought 700 boxes of cookies to sell for local Girl Scouts at his store. He is asking customers who buy cookies to purchase additional boxes to send to Erie soldiers, Marines and sailors serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The response has been great," Grab said. "People have come in, bought a box or two for themselves, and bought six and seven boxes for our troops." Others leave donations to help pay shipping costs. Weunski welcomes the names of more deployed servicemen and -women to add to her mailing list of 225. The lack of military Post Exchange (PX) stores in forward operating areas, especially in Afghanistan, has left many troops overseas without -- not only cookies -- but basic necessities, Weunski said. Weunski's son, Joshua, is serving with the 214th Cavalry's Bravo Company, part of the Army's 25th Infantry Division, in Iraq. "He's been there since June 28, and the traveling PX has never come around. The only toiletries and fun things that he gets are what we send," Weunski said. Weunski displays the pictures of local men and women serving overseas on a Wall of Honor at her inn. She puts a star on the frame of each one who comes home and stops in. Bujnowski will be able to put up his own star soon. He's left forward operations in Afghanistan and is due back in the U.S. next week, his father, James Bujnowski Sr., said. The sergeant is the son of James and Mary Bujnowski, of Erie. "It's wonderful that so many people think of our troops and make their deployment a little easier," James Bujnowski Sr. said. VALERIE MYERS can be reached at 878-1913 or by e-mail. Pittsburgh Inn Supports Troops - Thanks PatronsApril 4, 2011, 12:43 amOwners of the Pittsburgh Inn restaurant in Millcreek held Meet our Soldier Day on Sunday, to say thank you to customers who are helping to support deployed troops. Robin Weunski's son, Sgt. Josh Weunski, is on a brief leave from his third tour of duty in Iraq. She has been collecting donations from customers to send to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since last September. The Pittsburgh Inn offered free appetizers for patrons who brought donations for troops and the response was so overwhelming she was able to ship 144 boxes. Some of the boxes contain necessities, others items are fun. On Sunday, scouts were packing up over 650 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Josh told his mom that the generosity of Erie residents stands out to the soldiers. The Inn has pictures of more than 300 soldiers on its walls. Thank you Erie for your support and generosity!Our Troops and The Pittsburgh Inn can not thank you enough!
*446 boxes sent & counting.Until they ALL come home !
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