‘A real gentleman’: Milwaukee restaurant cooks up fallen officer’s favorite meal in touching tribute

By Hannah Hilyard

Click here for updates on this story

    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Once a week for the last five years, Tee Nguyen, owner of Bao Bao on Milwaukee’s southwest side, said he’s seen officer Kendall Corder walk through his restaurant doors.

“I just saw him less than 10 days ago. He came here,” the Vietnamese restaurant’s owner said. “A real gentleman, very humble, and he always make sure to take care of people very well.”

Responding to a shots-fired call on Thursday, June 26, investigators said a shooter ambushed Corder and his partner, Officer Christopher McCray. Corder died from his injuries on Sunday. A funeral procession with hundreds of first responders escorted the fallen officer from the hospital to the medical examiner’s office.

Following the procession, officer Corder’s two best friends told WISN 12 News they wanted to visit Bao Bao.

“I know he loved that place, and we were like ‘let’s go out to eat there because I know he always went there,'” Corder’s friend Nilsa Arce said.

Arce and fellow friend Glenn Kirby Jr. explained to Bao Bao’s owner who they were.

“We want what he gets. And they said, ‘Oh yeah, he doesn’t even have the menu. He has his own menu,'” Kirby Jr. said.

Nguyen confirmed, “For him, whenever he come here, he doesn’t need no menu … he would always have the P1 pho special, and he always make it a large, big guy. Extra noodle, extra shrimp and extra biscuit.”

That’s exactly the meal that showed up on Arce and Kirby Jr.’s table, plus one extra for Corder.

“They were sitting at table number seven for themselves, and I set up table number 6 for officer Corder,” Nguyen said.

Corder was also known for always wanting a pitcher to accompany his meal, and Nguyen ensured his friends had a pitcher on Sunday, frequently refilling their glasses to keep them full.

“It was the fact that he was able to impact that in this life,” Arce said.

These simple gestures demonstrated Corder’s far-reaching legacy.

Nguyen expressed his gratitude, saying, “It is my pleasure. I feel fortunate to have a chance to meet him, to serve him, to get to know him.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.