ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Kevin Blonder doesn’t want us to forget, he never will.
When you climb the steps at his famous restaurant in Annapolis called, “Buddy’s,” you will notice a table you will never be allowed to sit. It is reserved forever.
This is not Veterans Day, it's not Memorial Day, it's today. Today, we remember the lives of 12 Marines killed in Kabul.
Blonder has set the empty table for 12, but he didn’t know he would need one more. When his hockey playing superstar son graduated from Mt. St Joseph High School a few years ago, dad had no idea Noah was seeing a Marine recruiter.
Then after graduation, he decided to go in.
“My son went to the Marines because that’s the one thing I regret in life, that I didn’t,” said the owner of Buddy’s.
He made his dad proud, they would talk every day.
Then Noah came home last summer after he was on leave for 18 days. On Friday night, Noah worked at Buddy’s.
His dad gave him a hug and kiss and said, “don’t be a dumb ass.”
Hours drifted by, night turned into early morning when dad got a call. A call he cannot shake.
A call that makes him cry five to seven times every day. His son was gone, killed in a car crash and he was the passenger.
To honor his son, Blonder has set up an empty table for Noah.
We will always remember his life, the life he had as a Marine.
