U.S. Army Capt. Luis Avila, who was injured in Afghanistan, moves with a procession Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021, during the United Service Organizations’ Salute to the Troops event hosted by MGM Resorts International.
Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021 | 2 a.m.
As dozens of wounded military veterans made their way down a hallway at the Mirage, onlookers waved small American flags and held up signs.
The signs — most featuring red, white and blue lettering — relayed messages such as “Thank you” and “We love our vets.”
Hundreds of onlookers, mostly MGM Resorts International employees, cheered the veterans, some with obvious injuries like missing limbs. Others had the more subtle signs of their wounds.
“This is our way of saying thank you,” said Tony Gladney, vice president of national diversity relations for MGM said Thursday, a week before Veterans Day.
MGM puts on the event, Salute to the Troops, every year, although it was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of the program, nearly 100 wounded service members and their guests received a complimentary five-day stay at the Mirage, which started Thursday. The stay also includes a series of dinners and complimentary access to shows and other entertainment.
“We wanted to show these wounded warriors how much we appreciate them,” Gladney said. “At MGM Resorts, we know that our freedoms didn’t come free.”
Anita Zanders-Lewis, a retired Army chief warrant officer from North Carolina, lost her legs but doesn’t like to discuss her injuries. She is in the process of being fitted for prosthetics at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
She said the Las Vegas trip was a nice respite for her and her husband, Robert Lewis. “He’s been spending a lot of time helping me,” she said.
“It’s wonderful that they do this,” Zanders-Lewis said. “It feels good. It’s good to be a veteran and to serve your country.”
The United Service Organizations helped make the event happen.
Edwards Orosco, a retired Army staff sergeant from Tennessee, was also excited about the trip. Orosco served 14 years in the Army and was injured in Syria.
He said he has been to Las Vegas once before but didn’t have much time to check it out. “I want to see everything I can see while we’re here,” Orosco said.
Gloria Bhoge, who spent more than 20 years in the Army, served in Iraq and has a long history of family members in the military. She had a brother who died in the Vietnam War.
She said she appreciated the way MGM is recognizing service members. “They’re treating us like movie stars here,” she said. “It’s my first time here, but it seems like really like to do everything big here in Vegas.”
