On Christmas Eve in 1943, Jim Gabelhart and a group of other airmen were walking into a USO canteen in Miami Beach when they heard a band playing "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

"You never heard so many 18-year-olds cry out loud," recalled the 83-year-old Bridgeville man at a "Christmas Memories Breakfast" for World War II veterans held this month at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh South in Bethel Park.

The gathering of about 60 veterans, many of whom brought their wives, was hosted by Veterans Breakfasts, a volunteer group dedicated to fellowship and the sharing of human interest stories.

The stories are shared not just at Christmas but all year long, said group founder Dan Cavanaugh. He hosted the first such breakfast of champions in March of this year and attendance has been steadily increasing.

"I tell vets we're not interested in stories that will keep you up at night. That's not our purpose. What kept you going is more of interest. What stuck out to you or amazed you or left you feeling blessed," Mr. Cavanaugh said.

Veterans, who sign up for a breakfast on a month-to-month basis, pay for their own meals. Mr. Cavanaugh, 47, of South Fayette -- who is hoping to obtain legal nonprofit status for the organization -- funds the administrative costs, such as postage.

This month's breakfast Dec. 9 began with Mr. Cavanaugh getting a plaque from some local veterans in appreciation.

Stories of any type are solicited at the breakfasts, but this month veterans were asked to share Christmas-related experiences during the war.

George Herwig, who served as a signalman for the Coast Guard in World War II, recalled a 3- to 4-foot-high palm tree decorated with paper snow flakes that served as his ammunition ship's Christmas tree while in the South Pacific.

He said Christmas songs on records played over the public address system were the only other tangible reminder of the season.

Mr. Herwig, 86, of West Mifflin, said while he and his family have had some pretty "grand" trees since then, the little palm tree will always stand out in his mind at the holidays.

Harold Stein, who served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, recalled indulging in an unlikely cocktail during the Christmas season of 1942 while serving on a ship near Guadalcanal.

"There was a bucket with water into which some sailors poured two bottles of Johnny Walker Red. Then they took carbon dioxide capsules for blowing up life preservers and threw them in to make whiskey and soda," recalled Mr. Stein, 88, of Mt. Lebanon.

Mr. Cavanaugh came up with the idea for the get-togethers after recording his father's memories of WWII over a five-year period.

The late William Cavanaugh was a member of the 3rd Army 65th Infantry Division, which landed in France after the Battle of the Bulge. He remained in Europe for a year.

"We had talked and recorded almost everything, at least I thought. His memory was faded as the war was almost 60 years ago.

"But then, for some reason, on Easter Sunday 2002, all of his memories came back," the younger Mr. Cavanaugh said.

"He remembered the doors to the furnace were on hinges at Mauthausen [concentration camp, near Linz, Austria, 1938-45]. He remembered the smell, and that the tracks of the railroad cars there were tilted.

"I figured he couldn't be the only veteran with a story to tell, and I wanted to create a forum for them to reflect about their life and war experience," Dan Cavanaugh said.

"No one will have ever walked in their shoes. Everyone is sharing a different perspective that we won't know unless they share it," he said.

Mr. Cavanaugh owns Cavanaugh's Wedding Planner and BrideShow with his wife, Donna.

He plans to write a nonfiction book about the era and "what happens when you listen to your internal instincts," which, he said, characterizes the World War II generation.

Bob Bukk, who also was inspired by his late father's World War II service, told the gathering about the Christmas treasure he discovered five years after his father's death.

He said his father, Peter Bukk, who served as a technical sergeant, ambulance driver and mechanic in the U.S. Army 85th Division, used to tell stories about V-mail, postcard-sized letters issued by the government to reduce mail bulk.

"I was always fascinated by that," said Mr. Bukk, 56, of Squirrel Hill.

Following his father's death, Mr. Bukk was holding a book of his father's when a piece of paper fell out: V-mail from Italy where his father was stationed.

The mail was to the soldier's mother -- Mr. Bukk's grandmother -- and was signed, "Your Loving Son, Peter."

"I finally got my piece of V-mail," he said.

He converted the card into his own Christmas card and sent it to friends and family.

"They went over there and did their job and came home and went on with their lives," Mr. Bukk said of World War II veterans.

"If you ask, 'Why did you do it?' -- you get the universal response: 'It had to be done.' ... I love listening to their stories and being in their company," Mr. Bukk said.

Not all the Christmas stories were war-related.

Marty Burke, a veteran of the U.S. Army's 94th Division infantryman, recalled hearing about his parents who were about to leave for church on Christmas Day 1925 when his pregnant mother went into labor.

"Mom never forgave me for spoiling her Christmas and being born on Dec. 25," he joked.

Mr. Burke, 83, of Bethel Park, is also a member of the Greatest Generation. He served as an infantryman with the U.S. Army.

Morton Parker shared stories, too.

During the Great Depression, his family lived in Chicago and could not afford a Christmas tree.

On Christmas Eve, he and his sister, Florence, stopped by an outdoor tree sale, mostly to get warm by THE flames from oil drums on site.

When the owner asked if they wanted to buy a tree, the youngsters said the family was too poor. The owner told them to pick one out and take it home -- for free.

"It's a story you would never forget," said Mr. Parker, 89, of Whitehall, a pilot for the U.S. Navy in WWII.

"The gatherings give soldiers the opportunity to open up," Mr. Gabelhart said of the breakfasts. He was an Air Force corporal in the 60th Squadron, 33rd Fighter Group.

"Sometimes after they get up for 15 minutes and sit down, wives will say they never talked like that before.

"It also gives everybody a real good chance to meet other people all in the same boat," he said.

"Just little bits and pieces of peoples' memories over the years," is how Mr. Herwig described the breakfasts' gems.

"Nothing special."