REMEMBRANCE IN EACH STITCH
War veterans getting special quilts thanks to local group
Seventeen members of the regional CAMEO Quilters Guild spent Veterans Day working on small quilts for World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans.
They gathered inside the Clawson United Methodist Church as part of their mission to make about 30 red, white and blue quilts for veterans with the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight organization when they visit Washington D.C. next year.
The veterans are one chapter, or “hub,” of the national Honor Flight Network, which flies veterans to the nation’s capital for free to share a day of honor at the nation’s memorials.
Honor Flights are meant to give veterans their own safe and rewarding tour of honor.
“The quilts will be a remembrance when they go on the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight in the spring of 2024,” said CAMEO member Rosemary Spatafora of Pleasant Ridge, adding that the quilters’ group name is an acronym for Come and Meet Each Other.
Linda Wallace of Royal Oak is the chairwoman of the CAMEO Quilters Charity Committee.
“This is the first time we’ve done this for the honor flights,” she said.
The quilters are chiefly residents of communities throughout southeast Oakland County, such as Berkley, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Clawson, Troy, Southfield and other cities.
Wallace said quilters received a request from the vice president of the Mid-Michigan Honor Flight chapter.
The chapter requested 30 small quilts of 32-by-36 inches.
“I think their goal is to give the veterans a lap quilt and give them something special as a token of remembrance” of their trip, Wallace said. “In the quilting world it’s a baby sized quilt.”
There are 47 members of the quilting group. But despite the relatively small size of the requested veterans quilts, making 30 of them requires a large amount of time and effort. All the quilts are expected to be finished in March.
Wallace that it takes from eight to 10 hours to produce one of the handmade quilts.
CAMEO quilting members are doing the work in a spirit of thanks and honor for veterans.
“We don’t do it to get praise or credit,” Wallace said. “This is a great opportunity to give thanks to the veterans.”
Back when she was a member of the Girl Scouts during the Iraq War, Wallace and her fellow scouts sent cards to U.S. military men and women serving during the war, she remembered.
She recalled getting one letter back from a soldier.
“The letter said, ‘we do this so we keep you safe and no harm comes to our country,’” Wallace said.
Some members of CAMEO Quilters have adult children serving in the armed forces.
Wallace noted that while veterans of WWII and the Korean War were honored when they returned from service, those who served in the Vietnam War were seldom shown that level of recognition or praise.
“This is great,” she said of taking part in the quilting effort. “We are going to be honoring those veterans who served in Vietnam. In all the other wars they came back as heroes, except those (who served) in Vietnam.”