By hanging on to the drink from his son’s Burger King kids Meal, Master Sgt. Jerry Sawyer and his family won $35,000 in the Burger King General Adventure World Tour game that was featured in 202 Burger Kings affiliated with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
RAF LAKENHEATH, England — Carson Sawyer first won his parents $35,000. Then he made sure they didn’t throw it away.
The 4-year-old son of Master Sgt. Jerry Sawyer and his wife, Carolyn, may be too young to understand the value of the winnings, but he may soon have a family vacation to show for his determination.
Last Saturday the Sawyer family was about to make its way from Lakenheath to nearby RAF Mildenhall so Carson could play at the indoor playground at the Bob Hope Center.
On the way, Carson’s pleas for a Burger King kids meal paid off and the Sawyers cruised through the drive-thru. After playing, Sawyer nearly tossed a beverage in the trash before Carson made the crucial save.
“He said ‘Hold on to that drink,’” Sawyer said Monday. “It was literally halfway in the trash.”
A few minutes later, Carson peeled off a game tab from the drink and handed it to his mother, who works at a Child Development Center at Lakenheath.
“It said we were instant winners of either a Hummer or a Harley-Davidson,” Sawyer said. “We were real leery at the beginning, and thought it was a piece of a puzzle. But then we got on the Internet and figured out we really did win.”
The Burger King General Adventure World Tour game was featured in 202 Burger King restaurants affiliated with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, according to an AAFES press release. Three of the four grand prize winners have been identified, including the Sawyer family, while a fourth winner from Operation Iraqi Freedom has yet to come forward, the release said.
Sawyer, who serves with the 48th Maintenance Squadron, rides motorcycles, but quickly abandoned the idea of taking home a custom Harley.
“My wife talked me out of the Harley right away,” he said.
The Hummer H3, while a favorite among some military families, was judged too impractical to accept, so the Sawyers decided to take cash in lieu of the vehicle, which is worth about $35,000.
Sawyer says he’s got a family vacation in the plans. And after that?
“We’ll just hold on to it for a while,” he said.
