“This tradition, so to speak, got started in 1945 when I was a draftee training in Little Rock, Arkansas. To take a break from the GI food, some of my buddies and I left base for some good ol’ Southern food,” the veteran explained. “At the restaurant, an elderly gentleman stepped up to us and asked, ‘Can you do me a favor? Will you let me buy your lunch? If you want to thank me, pass it down.’”

World War II veteran picks up $1,500 tab for military members at Chick-fil-A https://t.co/dP5kkt1ErZ

— O.C. Register (@ocregister) February 15, 2019

Edmund never forgot this good deed, and he has been “passing it down” ever since.

Born in Michigan, Edmund was drafted into the Army when he was 18 and spent two years serving on the Czechoslovakian border as a staff sergeant during the war. Afterwards, he got a degree in engineering and spent years working for North American Aviation (which later came under ownership of Rockwell, then Boeing).

Now retired, Edmund said he enjoys treating members of the military and their families, which is easy for him to do since he lives near the Joint Forces Training Base and the Naval Weapons Station in Los Alamitos.

“There are lots of kids in the military around here, and they all look so young to me,” Edmund said, adding that he has never forgotten the lonely feeling of “being a long way from home and family.”

Edmund is very beloved at the Chick-fil-A location where he treated the military families on his birthday.

“Edmund is a regular customer. He always comes in for a salad, cookies and coffee,” said the location’s manager Viola Sargis. “We call him our local sweet thing.”

Edmund spent three hours at the restaurant on his birthday, meeting the servicemen and their families, who were all incredibly grateful for what he was doing.

“Everybody was so happy,” Viola said.

Though $1,500 was a lot of money to spend, Edmund has no regrets about it.

“I’m not a rich man – but this, I can afford,” he said.