NJ families welcome Coast Guard recruits for Thanksgiving dinner

Thursday, November 28, 2019
NJ families welcome Coast Guard recruits for Thanksgiving dinner
These Coast Guard recruits are feeling like family for their first Thanksgiving away from home. Community Journalist Matteo reports.

OCEAN CITY, N.J. -- In a house a few blocks from the blistering winds of the Atlantic Ocean, three 19-year-old Coast Guard recruits have a reason to give thanks.



They were invited by one of many volunteer families to have a warm home away from home this Thanksgiving.



It's part of the Red Cross' Operation Fireside, where recruits from the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May are "adopted" by local families on Thanksgiving. Ocean City resident Gary Halbe says it's their own way of thanking them for taking up a life of service to our country.



Watch our video to see this new family-for-the-day enjoy Thanksgiving together.



RELATED: Fallen Philly Marine identified and reunited with family after 76 years



This Philadelphia Marine lost his life in World War II over 70 years ago. Today, his remains were reunited with his family just in time for Thanksgiving.