New U.S. citizen receives Beach hospitality
Operation Open Arms has been providing organized military outreach benefits and the basis for ‘feel good’ stories about soldiers returning to Southwest Florida to receive the red carpet treatment from its sponsors for nearly five years.
Capt. John “Giddy Up” Bunch, founder of the program, relayed another heart-warming plot centering around Thanksgiving and Fort Myers Beach. It involves a young Army soldier of Cuban descent who dreamed about becoming a U.S. citizen; he fights in Iraq alongside American troops who ridicule him about defending a country of which he is not a citizen; the U.S. Army later awards him American citizenship on Veterans Day while in Iraq; he flies into Fort Myers on Thanksgiving for a two-week leave and transported by limousine by a prominent Fort Myers Realtor; he receives free vacation package treatment on the Beach and elsewhere; and gets married before shipping out.
U.S. Army Pfc. Aldanis Vigo, a gunner assigned to Company C “Crazy Horse,”, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, and 1st Cavalry Division flew into Southwest Florida International Airport to a welcoming party which included his girlfriend and now wife, Jennifer, and enjoyed the hospitality of Operation Open Arms sponsors in the Southwest Floirda area.
According to Bunch, this story captures the essence of the Thanksgiving holiday -gratitude.
“This is a truly exceptional story about him getting U.S. Citizenship just before he came home,” said Bunch. “Add that to the fact that Realtor Denny Grimes, who has provided Operation Open Arms a limousine for the past five years and probably had a lot to do on Thanksgiving, especially with his family, dresses up and goes to the airport in his own limousine to pick up the soldier and his girlfriend. The whole story epitomizes what Thanksgiving is all about.”
Vigo’s vacation benefits on the Beach included a three-night stay at Diamondhead Beach Resort and two nights at Silver Sands Resort.
“I had to give up half of a football game for somebody who has given up two years of his whole life,” said Grimes of Denny Grimes & Company, Inc. “I wanted to do this drive personally. I was too young for Vietnam, and I never served. This is my way of serving those who do serve.”
Bunch has a message for those who might oppose the fact that a certain immigrants gets preferential treatment.
“A lot of people in Lee County get upset when one of these Cuban boats land and Cubans are awarded American citizenship,” he said. “I think they forget that all of our ancestors came here by boat as well.”
The Operation Open Arms founder would like to see more Beach businesses offering a helping hand towards U.S. soldiers.
“Fort Myers Beach is one of the first choices amongst our soldiers because most of them are young and unmarried and it is a choice of single people,” said Bunch. “If people only knew the immense amount of satisfaction it gives them to help one of these kids, we would have more sponsors. If you have a hotel or restaurant or a sailboat and you don’t like the experience with one of our service people, you can quit as fast as you join. There is no contract to sign and no agreement. It’s something that is on the honor system. If you feel your generosity is abused, you just quit. But, you’ll find that not too many people do.”