Lancaster Online: 'Like family': Lititz Purple Heart vet reps Pennsylvania in honor trip across New York
Vanessa Sylte, the canteen manager at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1463 in Lititz Borough, has overheard war stories for more than a decade.
She met Karl Spidel when she first started tending the bar 11 years ago, when Spidel pretended to not be a member as a joke.
Turns out Spidel was a Purple Heart recipient — an award given to Americans wounded or killed while serving the U.S. military — and a retired Army sergeant from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
They’ve been friends since. She has watched Spidel serve as a dedicated volunteer and quartermaster for the VFW, raise $17,000 for a Purple Heart memorial on the VFW grounds, and assist other veterans.