Sending out an S.O.S.
Henry Quandt serves up an Army treat on Sept. 29, 2007
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| Henry Quandt, today and (at top) with his beloved Alfa. |
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When you set out to take in the activities and events scheduled for Lincoln City’s “Celebration of Honor” this weekend, you’ll need to fortify yourself with a nutritious breakfast.
It’s the kind of advice you’d get from your mother. Or your drill sergeant.
On Saturday morning, Lincoln City’s favorite spot for fresh-made donuts, fritters and bear claws will be even busier than normal. Veterans, visitors, and the rest of us are invited to bivouac at Henry’s Lighthouse Donuts, where owner Henry Quandt will fire up a mess line for a regulation U.S. Army staple.
The “S.O.S.” breakfast – the name (almost) means “stuff on a shingle” – promises good food and fellowship for all to share.
If you’ve never served in the military, S.O.S. may be new to you. Expect a tasty, hearty breakfast of ground beef in a white sauce on fluffy biscuits. It’ll be good, and it’ll be authentic, because army cooks don’t come more authentic than Henry.
Among other accomplishments, he warmed the Cold War for American servicemen stationed in Italy in the 1970s. They were manning Nike Hercules nuclear missile sites, and he would regularly whip up meals like this weekend’s breakfast for 30 hungry men in Bovolone, or 65 to 70 men when he was stationed at Mt. Calvarina, also in Italy.
Back in the states, he was known to run a mess that could feed 2,000 troops in 90 minutes, at 45 minutes a turn.
His Enlisted Evaluation Reports sing the praises of an NCO who would go out of his way to make life better for the soldiers he fed.
Today, Quandt keeps those reports in a fat manila envelope. A typical entry, from Mt. Calvarina in 1983, read: “Sergeant First Class Quandt is the professional NCO. He takes pride in every aspect of his work and has much to be proud of. … His technical knowledge is of the highest caliber and he is a master of the culinary arts.”
All told, Quandt served 20 years in his military career, from 1971 to 1992.
Life in the ciao line
Quandt likes to reminisce about his time in Italy, where he also served as an interpreter (feel free to order your S.O.S. in Italian – he’ll understand).
“I was married to my second wife in Italy, in a service performed by the town’s communist mayor,” Quandt said. He speaks fondly of that event, and of his other Italian love affair – with a 1965 Alfa Romeo 2000.
“It nickeled and dimed me to death,” Henry said. “And, I had to have it tuned all the time. But, it could fly!”
Strictly army issue
So, what does a “master of the culinary arts” put in his S.O.S.? Ground beef, milk, flour, salt, pepper, onions and “secret ingredients I am not divulging,” Quandt said.
When pressed about these so-called secret ingredients, the decorated veteran fessed up. “Nah, it’s just army issue. By the book.”
We wouldn’t want it any other way.
The S.O.S. Breakfast runs from 7 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 29. The $5 cost gets you the meal and coffee, and all proceeds will be donated to the Oregon Coast Veterans Association.
Henry’s Lighthouse Donuts is located at Logan Road and Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City, across from McDonald’s. For more information, call 541-994-6010.
More information about the “Celebration of Honor."
– Story by Dave Price
dave@oregoncoasttoday.com
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| Can you spot Henry Quandt in his Basic Training photo? |
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