By Veterans Reporter News -November 30, 2018
Honor Flight Southern Nevada held their Honor Flight Reunion Luncheon on Nov 17th at the Sun City Aliante. Each of the past Honor Flight recipients were honored with a quilt and a certificate from Quilts of Valor after their lunch.
Belinda Morse, President of Honor Flight Southern Nevada says, “We contacted them when we heard about them and I know that honor flight Nevada does it at the airport when they come home but wanna do it here so just can really see and enjoy the quilt, and have it presented to them.”
A member of Quilts of Valor told the awardees the story of how Quilts of Valor started. Catherine Roberts, a Gold star mother, had a son in Iraq. In 2003, one night she saw her son sitting on the side of his bunk, so vivid she couldn’t tell if it was real or a dream. He was hunched over, looking cold and feeling despair. Then on another night she saw him wrapped in a quilt, warm and comforted. She then started the development of Quilts of Valor, with the motto, “To Honor and Comfort those touched by war”. Quilts of Valor has awarded more than 204,000 quilts today. She adds, “Each quilt is a quality quilt, not a charity quilt. There are standards we have to meet.”
Quilts of Valor awarded each Honor Flight recipient by first, announcing their name and their military information. Then they presented the quilt to the awardee, folded it up, wrapped them with the quilt, and after a kiss on the cheek, thanked them for their service. Among the 150-200 people there, 27 veterans were awarded a quilt that day.
The Korean War Veterans Association and the Korean Community presented their donations to Honor Flight Southern Nevada. Peggy Randle, Dawn Walker, Ruth Taylor, Jerry Malloy, Melanie Smith, and Belinda Morse(President of Honor Flight Southern Nevada) was awarded a challenge coin with the Women’s Arlington Memorial on one side.
Honor Flight Southern Nevada is a non-profit organization with the mission of escorting WWII and Korean War Veterans to the memorials in Washington D.C. which are dedicated to the sacrifices they made for our freedom. We work with veterans in Tonopah, Ely, Mesquite, Laughlin, Pahrump and everywhere in between. Priority is given to World War II veterans and veterans with a terminal illness. If you’re interested go to honorflightsouthernnevada.org for more info or to apply.
