Covering wounds

WWII vets honored at Quilts of Valor ceremony

Sharon Crider takes a photo of her father, Leander Bax, left, and his two bowling buddies, Ruth Buell, middle, and Herb Meyer after Sunday's Quilts of Valor ceremony. The three World War II veterans were among 14 honored. They still bowl together locally each week.
Sharon Crider takes a photo of her father, Leander Bax, left, and his two bowling buddies, Ruth Buell, middle, and Herb Meyer after Sunday's Quilts of Valor ceremony. The three World War II veterans were among 14 honored. They still bowl together locally each week.

Fourteen local World War II veterans were honored for their service with quilts on Sunday.

A Quilts of Valor ceremony last December honored six WWII vets, and this one, held at American Legion Post 5, honored another 14.

"It's just something I thought should happen," said organizer Sallie Jacobs, who is with both Operation Bugle Boy and the American Legion Auxiliary. "And I picked World War II veterans because we're losing them too quickly."

The honorees were Leander Bax, Norbert Bernskoetter, Ruth Buell, Forest Clark, Walter Evenson, Charles Foster, Albert Haslag, E. John Knapp, Herb Meyer, Brooks Nicklas, Richard E. Owen, James H. Rackers, Manuel Ramos and Billie Rikard.

"This is really a high honor, and I'm sure that none of us in the Army, Navy or whatever enrolled to get a quilt," Foster said to laughter. "But we appreciate it very much. There's a lot of love and hard work that went into this."

Mayor Carrie Tergin said her grandfather, who immigrated to America, "always told me that America was the best country on earth, and it is because of people like you. So thank you for all of your service."

The only woman in the group was Buell, who served in the Navy WAVES from 1944-46 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a storekeeper/disbursement clerk who paid the sailors guarding the Merchant Marines.

Each week, she still goes bowling with two of her fellow honorees, Leander Bax and Herb Meyer.

After the ceremony, she said she was surprised by the honor. "I think they're gorgeous," she said of the quilts. "I'm glad I didn't have to choose between them."

The Quilts of Valor Foundation was started by a mother, Catherine Roberts, in 2003 when her son was deployed to Iraq as a gunner on a Humvee. She started the foundation to cover all those wounded warriors with both physical and physiological wounds with a Quilt of Valor. Originally, the focus was on veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan but has expanded to veterans of all wars and conflicts.

Jan Hobbs, the group leader for Patriot Piecers, the Columbia chapter, said more than 150,000 quilts have been awarded to vets since then, including at least 200 from the Columbia group, which currently has 22 members.

"It's because of them we are free," she said. "It's because of them we can do what we wish. We need to remember that and thank them for that every day."