They never really thought about starting a lunch group, it just happened one morning over breakfast. Les Gibson says he mentioned Bob Rudd's name to Dwight Herndon. Les and Bob were drafted together and ran into each other while serving during the Vietnam War.

It had been 55 years since Bob and Dwight saw each other. After some of the Veteran classmates heard about the three of them meeting some began to ask if they could join them. Many of them had lost track of one another over the years after serving in the military and moving to other areas.

Each time someone new showed up for lunch another Veteran classmate's name was mentioned and someone new would attend the next lunch. Over the past year more and more have attended with an average of about 20 regulars.

On Thursday, Feb. 23, at the Diner 54 in Mexico, the largest number of people to date attended the lunch with a total of 31.

They have classmates who drive from Kansas City, St. Louis, one from Arkansas, and another from Florida who joins them for lunch a couple of times a year.

Gibson said most of them have known each other since they were just little kids. "We've been friends for close to 70 years. Many of us grew up in the same neighborhoods. When our country needed us every one of us answered the call. Those of us here today are the lucky ones because we came back to the world alive. Some of our friends and classmates gave their all. All of them were too young to die," said Gibson. 

Jim Cahall was killed in action on Jan. 15, 1967. He was the very first combat casualty from Mexico, MO and the only member of the class of 1964 to lose his life in Vietnam.

Most of the group served during the Vietnam War. The group is made up of classmates Veterans from the Mexico High School graduates of 1961-1967.