Veteran Presentation
 

I am not sure of the total number of quilts, but our quilt guild presented over 20 Quilts of Valor to veterans on Thursday. The ceremony was amazing. The Air National Guard out of Birmingham sent 4 servicemen to the presentation. The veterans were called by name and rank and were seated in a semi circle with their backs to the audience. They covered the entire stage. The head of the Air National Guard gave a very impressive speech to the veterans and all of the guests. Then the 3 remaining Air Guards came up and did the folding of the flag ceremony with the head of the Guard explaining the meaning of each fold.[ATTACH=CONFIG]561628[/ATTACH]
Then each quilt was handed to two of the Guards and they held it up so everyone could see it.
Then the veteran was called by their name and rank. They came up to stand in front of the quilt facing the audience.

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Then the servicemen came around in front of the veteran wrapping the quilt around their shoulders, stood in front of them and saluted them.

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It was so impressive. I am so glad to be a part of this group of wonderful quilters. Here is most of the veterans in a group picture.

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Sorry the last picture that is sideways came through. I tried to delete it.

Thanks for looking. The pictures could have been better but you can get the idea. GOD bless and our thanks to all veterans. FYI, the little lady in the middle of the group picture is a Colonel. GOD Bless all of them.

It must have been a very emotional ceremony! Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful ceremony.

What an honor to be a part of it. Our service people need to be honored in every way. I always shake a service persons hand, when ever I see one, & thank them for all they do for our country.

What a privilege it was for your guild to participate in this event and to put your appreciation into the quilts you made for the veterans!

What a wonderful post detailing the ceremony. I bet it was a real honor to be there and be a part of it. Did the vets seem like they were pleased with the quilts?

thank you for all your hard work on this--our guild took on a 3 year project to get quilts to all wartime county Vets (we are rural county but still ended up with 680+ presented and still an occasional one). The part that brought me to tears in the last presentation (ok, little weepy the whole time!) was when we had a medley of songs from each branch of the service played to open the presentation and the Vets would stand for "their" song and then stay standing in honor of each other--wow--makes me tear up just typing this!

How wonderful! Thank you for sharing.

wow...must not have been a dry eye in the house.

that is awesome honoring the vets!!!

Wonderful for the recipients and the givers.

Thank you for honoring veterans in this way!

amazing ceremony, and well deserved

What a wonderful way to honor veterans; this is a great post, thank you!

What a wonderful way to present the quilts and a wonderful tribute too!

Wonderful. BrendaK

Yes they were thrilled and said the ceremony and quilts were beautiful. Forgot to say we served a BBQ lunch after the ceremony.
Very touching.

Our guild honors local veterans from a 3 county area the Saturday before Memorial Day. We have a presentation on the Town Square and the veterans are asked to stand up when their name is called. We have given away close to 300
in about a 4 or 5 year period. We try to get to the WWII veterans first simply because they are the oldest. There are so many out there and we have a limited budget, but we do the best we can. To offset the cost, we make and sell chances on a raffle quilt each year.

I almost teared up looking at your post and I am usually pretty stoic. What a great ceremonial offering.

What a wonderful post. Thank you so much for sharing all of it! I am in awe of what your group did and the reception that it received. We, as individuals and as a nation, how so much to be thankful for. I am 79 years old and come from the era in which everyone, military and civilian, participated in the war effort. As a result we really understood the cost. Today, because of our greater population, taxes that pay for the war effort, etc. so many (especially younger people) frequently know no one who serves in the military and has no connection with the effort. So, thanks to our military for their service to every one of us and thanks to your group and other groups for remembering them in this way. I would have loved to be at that ceremony!

Thank you for helping our veterans. They gave so we could live free. Bless them and you for this project.

Makes me tear up! Wrapping the quilts around them.... so emotional. Great thing to do...

What a beautiful and moving ceremony, long past due for many. Thanks to your guild for giving them a lasting memory and to all of our service men and women for their dedication to our country.

Wow! This is so awesome. Thank you for sharing!

Wonderful--such a deserving group for honors.

Tissue please. What a wonderful way to show respect and love for these veterans. Thanks to all of you who were involved.

What a wonderful way to honor our veterans.

What a beautiful ceremony! I know they appreciated everything your group did for them. The quilts are lovely! May God bless you for your caring and "wrapping" the vets in love.

nicely done, i'm sure they are much appreciated

Makes the tears well up... What an absolute wonderful ceremony to present these veterans with the quilts made with care and respect!

I'm choked up and wiping some tears. How moving and meaningful. "Thank you" doesn't seem like much of an expression for how you've helped honor these deserving vets. I'm sure they felt your gratitude and love.

This was a fine way to honor the veterans.

What a nice tribute! Thanks to all of them for their service!

Truly an memorable ceremony for anyone who attended. How lovely.

Just reading about the ceremony gave me chills. These warriors deserve our total respect, admiration, and heart-felt thanks. And thanks to your group for bestowing such an honor on them.

I love it! So beautiful.... Thank you for honoring our veterans.

That's awesome! What a great thing to do.

Sound so wonderful.

I was privileged to be the long-time friend of the mother of a veteran in Marion County, Florida. Although it had been quite a few years since I had seen my friend's son, while he was serving in the U. S. Army, after he sustained a fairly serious injury, he was discharged and has returned home to Florida. He and his wife and two children (one an infant) and one three years old) lost all of their household goods. I had some extra items (which, though may have been used, were not damaged in any way, which I passed on to them. Also, I count it a privilege to have made my very first pieced-block quilt and presented it to this young man who, like so many others, has sacrificed for our country. Freedom doesn't come free. This is the quilt my son and I presented back in August, on his birthday.[ATTACH=CONFIG]561859[/ATTACH] The veteran is on the left side of the photo.