The Movable Buffet: Vegas welcomes wounded veterans

Reporting from Las Vegas —

A sight rarely seen in one of Vegas’ gambling palaces took place on Veterans Day at the Venetian. An honor guard from nearby Nellis Air Force Base stood in the casino lobby wearing dress uniforms, their bayonets glittering under the casino lighting, all in formation to greet 75 injured soldiers and their caregivers arriving from the airport by bus for a “Tribute to the Troops” weekend.

FOR THE RECORD:
“Tribute to the Troops”: A caption last Sunday under a photo of a couple with the Movable Buffet column about the “Tribute to the Troops” weekend in Las Vegas misidentified Crystal and Todd Nicely as Kelsey and Larry Perry. —

This was the fifth time in the last three years that Venetian honcho Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, hosted a Wounded Warriors Vacation through the Las Vegas Sands Foundation. The generally reclusive Adelson, 77, was on hand, getting off his scooter and balancing himself with a walking stick, to be standing in front of his resort to greet each arrival.

“Have you been to this before?” one Venetian employee waiting near the red carpet for the troops asked a colleague as the buses pulled up from the airport.

“No.”

“Prepare to cry.”

Many did cry as the soldiers disembarked and walked about 100 yards from the entrance, past the lobby, threading by slot machines to reach a ceremony in their honor. As the procession moved along, thunderous applause erupted along with chants of “USA” from a crowd that represented all elements of Vegas briefly united: on- and off-duty casino employees, service members in droves from Nellis, quite a few locals and many tourists who just caught wind of what was happening.

Samantha Nerove, injured in Baghdad in 2008, said of getting off the bus: “It was heart-melting even for an old soldier like me with 23 years in.”

The Vegas setting added a certain patina to the greetings. The idea behind “Tribute to the Troops” was to offer entertainment and express gratitude, and some of the Wounded Warriors say they also found here a place with surprising therapeutic value. For Nerove, that moment came when she took a complimentary tourist helicopter flight.

“It was my first time on a helicopter since I was medevaced out of Baghdad. I knew what I was doing, and it wasn’t easy. But when it was over I was able to say that was there and this was Las Vegas. So does Las Vegas have therapeutic value? Hell, yeah!”

For Todd Nicely, a Marine who became a quadruple amputee after being injured in Afghanistan in March, this was one of his first trips away from the hospital where he has undergone numerous surgeries and physical therapy. The Vegas trip and the greeting were a first chance to gauge civilian sentiment. “It was so overwhelming,” he said.

Events took place for the troops all over Las Vegas. The most lasting was the dedication of a new USO center at McCarran International Airport. Las Vegas is a city that shuns partisan politics to be all things to all tourists. But showing support for the troops transcends politics here, and showing support and acknowledgement for veterans is a longstanding Vegas tradition.

Many shows on the Strip, including Terry Fator’s (who hosted the Wounded Warriors at his show and donated proceeds from that performance to the new Las Vegas USO), acknowledge veterans every night. Fator’s support is like that of longtime Vegas performer Wayne Newton, who has been connected to the USO for almost as long as he has Vegas.

The support offered the wounded soldiers returning now is particularly moving to veterans of previous conflicts like Duane Wagner, a double amputee who served in Vietnam. Wagner was in Vegas for a bicycle race of wounded veterans, “Ride 2 Recovery.” He serves as a mentor to many amputees from the most recent conflicts. He notes that the people in Vegas come from all over and are a microcosm of all America. “When I got home I was spit on by people for my service. And so it is great to see how much more service is appreciated now.”

Many veterans and their caregivers say they never expected Sin City to be so patriotic. “It really surprised me,” said Kelsey Perry, who came as a caregiver to her husband, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Her husband, Larry Perry, noted that the town’s welcome extended beyond the official activities. “My buddy and I went to Jet nightclub at the Mirage and he had sweatpants on with his prosthetic, which did not make dress code. But when they understood who we were, they immediately wanted us to come inside.”

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