‘We are one community’: Bend restaurant reserves honorary table ‘for the fallen’ 13 in Afghanistan

Bend restaurant honoring eleven fallen marines, one army soldier and one navy sailor -- each with a beer.

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There's an open table with 13 reserved seats and 13 beers on it at Bend Burger Company on Northeast Third Street.

It's to honor and celebrate the lives of the U.S. servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan by a terrorist attack last week.

Jon Hayes, the restaurant's owner, said Tuesday he got the idea after seeing other restaurants all over the country do it. He brought it to Bend because he wanted the community to be a part of it.

"We are a small area in Bend, but we are one community, and we need to stick together and realize that we're all in it together." Hayes told NewsChannel 21.

"And that when we lose somebody, it's all of us that's lost somebody over there."

Hayes says he plans to keep the beers full and the seats reserved until Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on America.

And the gesture isn't just to honor those 13 service members, but in honor of all of the lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, including more than 6,800 U.S. service members and 5,200 U.S. contractors.

"Very emotional and very sad, what's happened." Hayes said. "Something that's just tangible for me that's so little that I can do, but I just feel as a community, we can come together and do something."

In an address to the country Tuesday, President Biden spoke of the 13 service members killed

"Twenty service members were wounded in the service of this mission. Thirteen heroes gave their lives. I was just at Dover Air Force Base for the dignified transfer. We owe them and their families a debt of gratitude we can never repay. But we should never, ever, ever forget." the president said.

Hayes says while the gesture is to honor the service members, sharing a beer is a simple way to come together.

"I think it was camaraderie between the military, and come in and just as a place to sit down and have a drink with each other."