I discovered the Hwy 77 Cafe in 2013 while I was visiting Rosebud.
I was in the small town, between Waco and College Station and home to about 1,500 people, to document the local tiny jail. Calabooses were once a common architectural feature on the Texas landscape, and as an archaeologist, I was on assignment with Texas A&M University Press to document Rosebud’s defunct 177-square-foot jail.
Since I was there at lunchtime, I asked the locals about a good place to eat.
Unanimously, the answer was the Hwy 77 Cafe, just north of town. Upon entering the small restaurant surrounded by fields and not much else, I was awestruck. Hundreds of photos of American military veterans graced the walls, veterans from Rosebud and across Texas.
When Martha Westerman opened the café in 2001, she hung a few military pictures of her relatives on a wall to honor their service. It wasn’t long before customers began bringing their own pictures to add to the ever-growing tapestry of veterans representing all branches of service.
Today, nearly 650 portraits occupy the designated wall of honor, which now covers most of all four of the small restaurant’s walls—up to 10 rows deep. It’s a stunning collection interwoven with framed American flags and the daily specials that keep watch over diner tables with gingham tablecloths.
The second owners, Sue and Bill Sturrock, continued the tradition started by Westerman. The current proprietors, David Diaz and Monica Castellanos, members of Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative, were not aware of this custom when they purchased the café in 2022.
“Monica and I are proud to honor the tribute that Martha started 23 years ago, and we have the utmost respect for those who served,” Diaz says. “We are constantly reminded of the pride the community has for its veterans, past and present.”
Images of men and women of America’s armed forces on these sacred walls date from the Civil War to those currently deployed at home and abroad. All major wars are represented, and the photos include veterans of famous battles and events such as the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Normandy landings on D-Day and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Also represented are former prisoners of war, Purple Heart recipients, and those killed or missing in action.
Each photo is numbered and appears on a list available to patrons who want to search for friends and relatives. This list identifies the veterans and their branch of service as well as when and where they served, with such particulars as their occupational specialty (tank driver, bombardier, etc.), rank and military honors.
Barbara Borden is one of the regulars at the café who has contributed to the military mosaic. I joined her and others for lunch and was treated to stories about various family members who are represented on the wall of honor.
“My husband, 1st Lt. Billy D. Borden, was a company commander at Fort Leonard Wood from 1969 to 1971, and my father-in-law, Billie E. Borden, was a gunner on the troop transport ship RMS Aquitania,” she says. “They were proud to serve, and the family is grateful to know that they will be remembered by their photos, courtesy of the Hwy 77 Cafe.”
On the back wall of the restaurant, Billy D. Borden occupies space No. 160, and Billie E. Borden is nearby, in spot No. 106.
I’ve added three photos of my own to these hallowed walls.
I joined the Army Security Agency in 1972 and served as a translator and aide to a colonel in Berlin. My father was a medic in World War I, transporting the wounded in France. And my cousin was a Marine Corps pilot in World War II and the Korean War.
It was the food that first attracted me to this diner (including the ever-popular liver and onions, scrumptious homemade pies, and excellent banana pudding), but it’s the people—on the walls and behind the counter—who keep me coming back. It adds to my unwavering pride to know my family is among those greeting visitors as part of this grassroots café tribute.
As Gen. George S. Patton once said, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the dead. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
