They're veterans and about 300 attend the monthly Veterans' Breakfasts at Crowne Plaza hotel in Bethel Park, Atria's in Wexford and Comfort Inn in Monroeville. Although their common bond is military service, their experiences, and the stories they tell, are as varied as snowflakes. No two are identical.

Over breakfast, Joe Zimbicki of Scott Township recalls guarding General George S. Patton's headquarters as an Army MP while across the room Dominic "Mimi" Margliotti of McKeesport relates experiences of guarding General Eisenhower's SHAEF Headquarters at Bushy Park in southeastern London (near Hampton Court Palace) and Helen Cerqua of Glassport shares stories of her service in the Marines. Veterans' children and grandchildren seated at their tables are learning about history from those who lived it.

Bernie Queneau, 97, of Mt. Lebanon takes to the podium with a brief video presentation. Then other members stand to share stories and mementos.

Jack Purcell of East Brookline, accompanied by wife, Jeanne, draws laughter with entertaining snippets of his WW II escapades in the Pacific, providing homing signals and weather reports aboard the famous two-masted schooner, Zaca. (At start of the war, the Navy requisitioned seaworthy private yachts.) How apropos that after the war, Zaca was purchased by swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn. And how like the WWII generation that Zaca, considered by yachtsmen "one of the finest yachts in the world," still participates in important regattas in the Mediterranean.

Although breakfast starts at 8:30 a.m., energized camaraderie continues until 11 to 11:30. This is precisely the atmosphere intended by the organization's founders, Dan Cavanaugh of Bridgeville and Todd DePastino of Mt. Lebanon.

Cavanaugh started the Veterans Breakfast Club after the death of his father, a WWII Army infantry soldier.

"We wanted to create a forum where veterans could share stories with each other and anyone else who wishes to learn from their experiences and wisdom," said DePastino. "Anyone is welcome, membership is completely open and free. We hope people will gather the wisdom of a fast disappearing generation -- not advice, but the kind of perspective, value, and feeling that comes only with age."

Cavanaugh originally organized bus trips to the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C., then invited some participants to breakfast to learn more about their experiences. His group had grown to 80 when DePastino, historian and award-winning author of Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front, arrived in 2008 with his video presentation about Mauldin, Pulitzer Prize winning WW II cartoonist. DePastino was smitten and has attended ever since.

"When I sit at their table, our table," said DePastino, "I enter a circle of wisdom and learn a bit about how to carry on in the present with courage and hope."

The next meeting is 8:30 a.m. Dec. 15 at Crown Plaza hotel, Bethel Park. Attendance is free, but there is a fee for breakfast. For reservations, call Dan Cavanaugh 412-206-0097 ext. 22.