- April 5, 2025
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Frank Fleury, Jim Snow, Oliver Wendell Davis and Clarence Brodnax
Clarence Brodnax reads Oliver Wendell Davis a poem as Ellen Parker listens.
Tom Piekarski, Herb Brucker and Nemo Farmer of the Palm Coast VFW. Brucker played the 'Presentation of Colors' on the horn.
Tom Piekarski of the Palm Coast VFW presents Oliver Wendell Davis with a certificate of graditude for selfless service.
Tom Piekarski salutes Oliver Wendell Davis.
The Lunch Club put on Davis' birthday party.
Ellen Parker and Oliver Wendell Davis have been together 15 years.
Veterans Tom Piekarski, Oliver Wendell Davis, Nemo Farmer and Herb Brucker.
Oliver Wendell Davis is surrounded by his friends from the Lunch Club.
Rhenda and Clarence Brodnax opened their home to host the party.
Fifteen years ago, Clarence Brodnax started a lunch club for his friend Al Branch, who had become blind due to diabetes. At the time, Al’s wife was simply asking Brodnax to get him out of the house.
But what started out as a two men having lunch each week turned into a lunch club that now has 15 members who go to lunch every Thursday.
This week, the club made special arrangements to celebrate the 90th birthday of Oliver Wendell Davis, a man who lied about his age in order to serve his country. “I wanted to be a soldier,” Davis explains today. Davis got his wish, and served from 1943 to 1946.
Davis is part of the club, and the Brodnaxes wanted to hold a birthday party for him once learning Davis was turning 90 on May 9 and knowing he has cancer. They celebrated Monday.
The VFW of Palm Coast Post 8696 was in attendance to play the colors and present Davis with a certificate of gratitude for selfless service. “It was awfully nice,” Davis said of the gesture.
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