Quilts to honor fallen heroes

  • Published
  • By Spc. Juana Nesbitt
  • 2nd Engineer Brigade Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Pieces.

Fragments.

What is left after the death of a family member? What about when a loved one pays the ultimate sacrifice, for strangers, on the line of duty, in a land far from home?

These are often the questions that plague the minds of families of fallen Soldiers.
Feelings of grief invade their homes.

They are left to pick up the pieces of their lives and try to make sense of the loss, but how?

They aren't alone.

This is the mission of the Survivor Outreach Services program. Their goal is to provide support and reassurance to surviving families of Soldiers.

One of the ways they do this is with the Home of the Brave Quilt Project.

Once a month, Army spouses and family members of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson community volunteer to make quilts to be presented to the families of fallen Soldiers.

"I think it's a great program, I think it's important that people know we appreciate what their Soldiers have sacrificed," said Jo Rachnow, spouse of Maj. Robert Rachnow of the 2d Engineer Brigade, during the group's most recent get-together March 6.Many of the volunteers are surviving family members themselves who know loss firsthand.

"I'm involved with the program because I know how important it is for the families that have lost their sons in combat," said Donna Fleur, whose son, Marine Cpl. Gregory M. W. Fleury was killed in 2009.

He was the first Alaska native to be killed in Afghanistan since the war began.

"It's very important that they feel the love from others and total strangers ... I'm able to give back in that way to somebody else even though I may not know who they are, but I know how much pain and hurt their family are going through," said Fleur.

The history of the quilts dates back to the Civil War when Northern women began making them as part of a supply run after becoming aware of a blanket shortage by the U. S. Sanitary Commission, which later came to be known as the American Red Cross.

In July of 2004, the Citrus Belt Quilters Inc. of Redland, Calif., wanted to show their respect and honor to the families of Soldiers who gave their lives during the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, so they began stitching similar quilts based on the few Civil War quilts still in existence. The idea took off and grew.

The Home of The Brave Quilt Project has since spread to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U. S. territories and has honorary chapters in England, Germany,
and Australia.