A Diner Owner Called a Limping Veteran a Tramp on Route 66, 1959 —Then John Wayne Stood Up
Untold Legacy OF JohnWayneOn a cold October night in 1959, an old man with a bad leg limped into a Route 66 diner, set sixty-one cents on the counter, and asked for a bowl of soup. The owner looked at his thin coat and called him a tramp in front of forty people. Then a tall man stood up from the corner booth — and seconds l