150 Navy recruits treated to dinner at Cary Country Club

Three buses carrying more than 150 U.S. Navy recruits pulled up slowly in front of Cary Country Club on Thursday morning.

Teena Miara, a bartender at the club, stood at the window and held back tears as she watched the recruits get off the buses in their matching white hats and long, black jackets.

"It doesn't seem right that they're away from their families," she said. "They look so young."

As the young men and women from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center quietly got off the buses and filed two by two into the dining hall to sit down to a Thanksgiving feast, everyone inside the club applauded.

It was their way of honoring the recruits for their service for America.

"It's simply saying thank you to those who wear the uniform for us," said David Dufern of Fox River Grove, the driving force behind the dinner. "God grants us freedom. They protect it. It's that simple."

The second annual dinner was especially poignant for Dufern and his family.

Dufern and his wife, Sue, had spent years going to the International House of Pancakes in Vernon Hills the Sunday before Thanksgiving and picking up the tab for Navy personnel who happened to be eating there.

The couple decided to do something bigger and last year invited roughly 150 Navy recruits to a Thanksgiving dinner prepared at the country club.

But this year, a smiling Sue Dufern watched over the dinner from a photograph set up at a table inside the crowded room.

She died Oct. 19 after a two-year battle with lung cancer, her husband said, and he and other family members carried on the tradition without her.

Dufern has since renamed the fund that collects money for the dinner in his wife's honor. It's now called the Sue H. Dufern Memorial Serviceman's Thanksgiving Fund.

"She was sure to put everybody ahead of herself," Dufern said, his voice breaking. "She'd be proud of all of us, everyone in this room."

The recruits have spent seven weeks in basic training and are due to graduate next Friday. From there they'll begin specialized training.

Recruit Elizabeth Combs, 18, said her mouth was watering at the prospect of chowing down on a Thanksgiving dinner.

She especially couldn't wait to use real salt. At boot camp, recruits use a salt substitute that keeps them hydrated, she said.

"It's good to be in the normal world again," said Combs, who hails from California and will learn how to run power plants aboard aircraft carriers.

Meanwhile, the day wasn't all about food.

Dufern's family members were raffling off numerous items, including movie tickets, gift certificates to restaurants and golf clubs.

Mid-America Charter Lines even waived expenses for the buses that brought the recruits to Cary. The three drivers piloting the buses donated their time as well.

"It's the least we can do," said Carmen DeBartolo, one of the drivers.

What's more, organizers stationed a cell phone at each table, giving the recruits a chance to wish their loved ones a happy Thanksgiving.

Recruit Ryan Lea, 22, of Indiana said their efforts to make everyone feel at home was heartwarming.

"I'm thankful for the time that they put in for us," said Lea, who will train to become an aviation maintenance man. "It's nice to get off base with people that care about you."