News : Quilts of Valor: Local veterans among those presented special gifts of love

DJ Mulder answers questions about his service in Iraq.

Josh Mulder and Traveler, among other veterans with their Quilts of Valor.

They were kids when I first knew them, the three youngest men who received Quilts of Valor at a special service on Saturday in Cedar Rapids.

We knew their parents when the boys were young; we shared and saw some of the interesting and relatively very minor challenges of raising kids.

One of the guys was the ring bearer in our wedding; his mom is one of my wife’s best friends.. His cousin, who had received a Quilt of Valor at an earlier ceremony, once cut his toe while walking on a lawn chair at our home. That little ring bearer later went to war; his cousins did, too. His brother is still serving, although for now, not at war.

Another one of the three played high school baseball with one of our sons; when he was hit by a pitch, his mom was sitting behind the fence near home plate. She yelled louder than he did when we heard the thud of ball.
He later went to war, like his brother.

Those three – Vinton natives Daniel “DJ” Mulder and Josh Mulder, the sons of Dave and Arlis Mulder; and Independence native Titus Kremer, the son of Tony and Dian Kremer – were among the dozen veterans who took their turn receiving a Quilt of Valor.

As friends of their families, my wife and I know just a bit of the battles these young men and their families have faced. We’ve learned just a bit about where they served, friends they lost, and unimaginable pains they have faced since coming home. Two of them now have a Retrieving Freedom service dog to help them cope with PTSD. Their families, of course, know way more of their stories than we do – but it’s almost certain that parts of those stories those soldiers will keep to themselves, forever.

They were young when they signed up to serve their country, which was sending soldiers across the ocean, east, to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq and other areas. One of our friends’ two sons told the crowd how he guarded terrorists from two different country while serving as an MP in Iraq. The other one described walking across Afghanistan, and the large weapons he and his team carried there.

All three of them know the person who made their quilts. Rita Moore, a long-time family friend, created quilts for DJ and Josh, and even a small one for Josh’s dog, Traveler. Titus’s aunt Debbie Stacey – who had helped make quilts for her own sons a while ago – created his quilt.

The other nine, none of whom I know, were all Vietnam veterans: Earl Buller, Jim Raasch, Jimmie Gabbert, Gordon “Mike” Mastain, Keith Walshire, Allen Walter, Donald Serovy, John Bullock and Walter Dean Cheney.

We heard just a tiny part of their stories, too. One was a tank leader; another led a flight crew; a third was in infantry. Their faces when they stood before the crowd, with a new quilt tucked over their shoulders said: I have a story. They were very young, and they went west over the ocean to fight another "ism" that confronted America for years: Communism.

Some of those quilts presented on Saturday were made by people the veterans know; others were made by a stranger – or in one case, many strangers, who created part of the quilt then passed it on to someone else who added more squares.

The veterans are very thankful for the kindness those quilts represent.

“I appreciate all the work that was done for making these quilts that are amazingly done, especially Traveler’s,” Josh told me. “I wasn't expecting him to get one, as well.”

Well aware that not all veterans in U.S. history have received gratitude from their nation, Josh adds: “It's good to see that Vietnam vets are still getting their overdue welcome home and thanks still and finally after all these years.”

The quilts help heal the makers, as well.

“Quilting has become a therapy to me,” says Debbie, Dian’s sister and a military mom and aunt.

Elayne Gassett, who has the unique title of Longarm Coordinator, helped find quilters with those big long arm machines to finish each quilt. Ralph Osenbaugh, himself a Vietnam veteran whose cap and face both say “I have a story, too,” presented each quilt. He’s the volunteer coordinator of the C.R. Area Quilts of Valor.

One of the Vietnam veterans, when asked how war impacted him, replied that he had had it easy, helping coordinate things from the safety of a base in Germany. But with tears, he told us how he had lost his best friend in Vietnam more than four decades ago.

“This quilt is for him, too,” said the soldier.

See more photos HERE.