Lt. Francis Toner IV has not been forgotten by a close friend — or by nearly 1.5 million people on Facebook.
On Memorial Day a patron of Bennigan’s restaurant near Borger, Texas, left a pint of Guinness and a message in memory of Toner on the bar.
The note read: “In memory of LTJG Francs Toner, USN. Killed in Action 27 March 2009, Balkh Province, Afghanistan. ‘Non Sibi Sed Patriae’ Not Forgotten!”
The gesture inspired Hannah Hobbs, a waitress at Bennigan’s, to take a picture and post it on Facebook. Her caption read: “This guy came in today and asked if it was ok if he left this on the bar.. I cried 🙁 I left it there until like 1130 tonight…. I didn’t want to pour it out but I had to. So I’m posting this pic so it can stay forever!! So can I get some likes people??”
By 4:45 p.m. ET Tuesday the picture had gone viral with close to 1.5 million likes, 432 shares and 113 comments.
Hobbs wrote that the customer also “ordered an extra and instructed me to give a beer to a stranger from Francis.”
Francis Lawrence Toner IV, originally from Narragansett, Rhode Island, died at age 26. According to CNN Casualties, he was “one of two sailors killed when an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire on four officers who were jogging along the perimeter of Camp Shaheen in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, on March 27, 2009.”
Toner was unarmed, but was able distract the enemy soldier from shooting his fellow sailors. For this act, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest military decoration for valor.
