Strangers Who Left This Amazing Note For Military Family Don’t Know How Much It Really Meant

 On the four year anniversary of the day U.S. Marine Sgt. Daniel J. Patron was laid to rest, his family received an overwhelming and surprise gift from total strangers while dining out at a local restaurant.

Son of Kathy and Frank Patron, and younger brother of Matthew Patron, Sgt. Patron was killed August 6, 2011, while trying to defuse a roadside bomb in Sangin, Afghanistan, in Helmand province. He had served two previous tours of duty in Iraq in 2005 and 2009, and was later sent to Afghanistan, voluntarily choosing to extend his deployment.

He was buried in Perry Township, Ohio on August 13, 2011.

Exactly four years later, total strangers anonymously paid for the family’s meal and left only this note.

  Kathy Patron, Dan’s mother, about what happened at El Camperos restaurant in Canton South, Ohio:

We had actually all met at another restaurant. When we walked in, the power suddenly went out. We debated for twenty minutes whether to wait out the power outage or leave. When we finally decided to go to El Camperos, an employee at our original destination announced that they were closed. When we arrived at El Camperos, we whined just a little bit about having to change our plans, what a shame it was that we missed out on the pizza at the other restaurant, blah, blah, blah…

Little did we know that we were where we were meant to be…

We are totally stunned and amazed by the kindness of strangers…

What’s truly amazing about this story is that the family wasn’t even supposed to be at that particular restaurant at that particular time. They started out for one place, but for one reason or another ended up exactly where they were supposed to be.

Kathy described the experience in these eloquent terms:

[W]e weren’t even supposed to be there. It was a series of events that led us there in the end where we received this gift. What led us to be there at that moment with those people when it wasn’t even on our radar when we left our home for dinner?

These are the moments when I know that Danny walks with us….

The family would like to thank whoever’s responsible for the wonderful gift. It’s unlikely they knew the special significance of that particular day.

The cost of the meal, plus tip, was close to $200 for all twelve of them. The family believes it might have been another group at a nearby table, but don’t know for sure.

We hope that the giver of this gift sees this post. We are grateful to you for this extraordinary gift that we received on the four-year anniversary of the day that Danny was laid to rest in Perry Township. Thank you.

Let’s hope that these anonymous angels know how much their gift was appreciated at this time.