Video shows Chili’s manager taking away free meal from veteran

CEDAR HILL, Texas -- A U.S. Army veteran posted video to his Facebook page showing the manager of a Chili's restaurant taking away his free meal on Veterans Day.

Ernest Walker posted the video of the incident on Friday in the Dallas suburb of Cedar Hill.

Walker, who was accompanied by his service dog, wrote that he was eating his meal when an older man wearing a Donald Trump shirt came up to him.



“He asked if I was in the 24th unit, and I said “no the 25th”. TRICK QUESTION. He said he was in Germany, and that they did not let Blacks serve over there,” Walker wrote.

The restaurant manager then approached Walker and said a customer had said Walker was “not a real soldier because he had his hat on indoors.”

Walker showed the manager his military identification and discharge papers, but the meal was still taken away.



Walker said he bought the fatigues he was wearing after he was discharged as a tribute to his service.

Brinker International, which owns Chili’s, said in a statement to KDFW: "Our goal is to make every guest feel special and, unfortunately, we fell short on a day where we serve free meals as a small token to honor our Veterans. We are taking this very seriously and the leaders in our company are actively involved with the goal of making it right."