Warming our veterans one quilt at a time
Gene Pfertzel, Marine Corps and World War II veteran, receives a Quilt of Valor from Sandra Thorson. Press photo by Thomas Nelson.
Warren Nott, Army and World War II veteran, receives a Quilt of Valor from Sandra Thorson. Nott participated in the Battle of the Bulge. Press photo by Thomas Nelson.
Dale Easterly, Army veteran of World War II, gets a hug and a quilt from Sandra Thorson. Press photo by Thomas Nelson.
World War II and Korean War veterans show off their quilts during a Quilt of Valor ceremony Thursday. Press photo by Thomas Nelson.
John Arends, an Army and Korean War veteran, gets a hug and quilt from Sandra Thorson and Marilyn Isakson. Press photo by Thomas Nelson.
Jim Smith, a naval officer during World War II, prepares to receive his quilt from Sandra Thorson. Press photo by Thomas Nelson.
By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com
A Quilt of Valor is an award to honor those who served in the armed forces.
The Zastrow River Room in the Charles City Library hosted the Quilts of Valor ceremony Thursday that honored 12 veterans.
Each veteran also received at least two hugs as they were presented quilts by Sandra Thorson and Marilyn Isakson, who also had helped create some of the quilts that were presented.
“It’s in appreciation for what they did for many years,” said Al Williams, a Navy veteran and VA driver for Floyd County. “This was a hard-working group right here.”
The veterans of World War II and Korea didn’t have the technology service members have today, Williams said.
The quilts are worth anywhere from $200 to $350 a piece and they’re made strictly from donated fabrics, Williams said.
The Floyd County Veteran Affairs Office, headed by Executive Director Maria Deike, put on the event.
“As of right now we have, I think, 19 living World War II veterans in Floyd County,” Williams said.
Quilts of Valor has been an organization since 2003. Since then more than 171,000 quilts have been handed out to veterans and those who have been affected by war.
“A Quilt of Valor is not a charity quilt. It’s not a blanket. It’s a quilt consisting of three layers,” Thorson said. “Each stitch in that quilt represents the love, gratitude and sometimes tears of the maker.”
The quilts are priceless and should never be sold or bought, Thorson said.
“It’s not a birthday present,” she said. “It is an award, to honor those who served.”
The goal of Quilts of Valor is to cover service members coming back with physical and emotional weights of war, Thorson said. Every person that served in combat and was affected by war is eligible to receive a quilt.
Thorson made three of the quilts given out Thursday, and about seven people were involved in making the quilts that were given out to the World War II and Korean War veterans.
Thorson spent a couple of weeks creating each quilt that she made, with some taking as long as three weeks, she said.
Since Thorson joined Quilts of Valor in 2009 she’s made about 50 quilts.
Giving those that have been affected by war some peace and comfort is Thorson’s goal with each quilt, she said.
“I’ve had a lot of tears,” she said. “They really felt that somebody acknowledged them.”
Marvin Emmel (WWII Army), Gene Pfertzel (WWII USMC), Warren Nott (WWII Army), Roy Franke (WWII Navy), Dale Easterly (WWII Army), John Arends (Korea Army), Artage Zanotti (WWII Army), Jim Smith (WWII Navy), Jerome Schlader (WWII Army), Derald Hoel (WWII Army), Paul Ritter (Korea Army), and Roger Ritter (Korea Air Force) were awarded quilts at the ceremony.
Eight veterans weren’t present but will be receiving quilts at a different time.
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