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Eagles honor Gold Star Families with Gold Star Gamers Night
With Veterans Day just over a week away, the Philadelphia Eagles invited Gold Star Families to The Linc for a special night of video games and fun.
PHILADELPHIA - With Veterans Day just over a week away, the Philadelphia Eagles invited Gold Star Families to The Linc for a special night of video games and fun.
Gold Star Gamers Night, part of the NFL's Salute to Service week, saw Eagles' players like Brandon Graham spend time with families of fallen military service members.
"The Eagles took out the time on the very first day of Salute to Service week to honor these kids, honor their families for the sacrifices they made, so it's a beautiful thing," military veteran Julian Boddy said.
The event meant a lot to those in attendance, like the family of Sgt. Bill Pascal from South Jersey who was killed 16 years ago leaving behind a wife and two kids.
"This event means a lot to us because my husband was a huge Eagles fan," Sue Pascal said. "I haven't been the best at making his boys fanatical like he was, so I feel like this is his way of saying ‘If you’re not going to do it, I'll help you out here'."
William Pascal described Salute to Service week as "a very emotional week" for his mother and their family.
"This is incredible, this entire Eagles venue, it's amazing," William said. "Seeing all the players just sitting down, playing games with us – that's my brother in the background playing Rocket League back there – all this super incredible stuff is mind-boggling, it really is."
Eagles long snapper Rick Lovato attended Gold Star Gamers for the seventh year and said it's always an event he looks forward to.
"I'm just another guy who likes to play video games, like these kids do, and this is my seventh year doing this, so I absolutely love this event," Levato said. "I've been playing video games my whole life and supporting these military families so much, you know, is the most important thing we can do."