Originally Posted by jnyork
My wife, an avid quilter, wanted to start a new one and was unable to find the material she wanted in our town, so we took a little trip to a well-known quilting shop out in the remote farmlands near the village of Shoshoni, WY, name of the place was, no kidding, Sheep Camp Quilts. crazy

Anyway, very good quilt shop, two nice ladies running it, wife found exactly what she wanted and we got ready to check out. I was wearing my "Air Force Retired, Vietnam Vet" hat like I usually do. The ladies got to chatting me up about what I did and when I did it. After a bit, one of the ladies went in back and came out with a beautiful full-size handmade patriotic quilt and presented it to me with hugs and "thank you for your service, etc". I was just flabbergasted, didn't really know what to say. Turned out, they are members of the National Quilts of Valor organization, which makes these quilts and presents them to war vets. I had never even heard of it but I looked it up later and was quite impressed. It is no small deal, there are about 10,000 quilters involved in makng and donationg these quilts.

Wife kind of sniffled most of the way home. I didn't say much either, just thinking of how things were 50 years ago for Vietnam vets and how things are now.

Here's a pic. If you know a combat vet, wounded or not, you might contact this outfit off their website, see if you can line him/her up to receive one of these quilts.

[Linked Image]
My blood just boils when I hear the stories of what you fine men were subjected to when you returned from the war. It's funny this comes up today, and I had another vet encounter today. A man came in with his eyeglass prescription to get filled, and it was from the local VA facility. As I always due, I mentioned that I saw he was retired military and thanked him for his service. We got to talking and I found out he was a retired Coastie. He spoke of getting off the plane and getting spit on and swore at by the people waiting to assault him. It's deplorable that our military men couldn't feel safe walking the streets of their home towns while in uniform. What a sad state of affairs. I hope all the idiots that saw fit to jeer our men and disrespect them rot in hell for doing this.

My thanks to all our men and women who answered the call to serve. No matter how you were treated in the past, rest assured that there are civilians out there who recognize how much you sacrificed and are forever grateful.

molɔ̀ːn labé skýla