Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Quilting through Grief over Iraq War

NW quilt makers harnessed to comfort Iraq vets
0214TB_Quilts.wav 4:34 long feature 2/14/08 Tom Banse/CD Military

Lead:
We keep hearing about them... suicides by Iraq War vets. One Northwest woman was so taken by the death of a vet she'd never met, she started a movement. The Vashon Island (Washington) quilt maker inspired others around the nation to make beautiful blankets to give to wounded soldiers. To date, they have delivered an astonishing two-and-a-half thousand handmade quilts. Correspondent Tom Banse reports the group plans to keep sewing until the Iraq War ends. (4:34... soq)

Optional tag:
To see for yourself some of the quilts the soldiers received, you can visit the gallery at the website: americanheroquilts-dot-com. No two are the same.

# # #

Sue Nebeker was savoring early retirement back in August 2004. As she did most mornings, she took a seat in her waterfront family room and opened the Seattle newspaper. That day, the front page feature profiled a combat rifleman from Washington State. He committed suicide after returning home from a tour in Iraq.

Nebeker: ?I really horrified ? and not really happy about the war either -- and trying to think of what I could do, wanting to make sure that we didn?t have another Vietnam and that our soldiers were honored for what they did.?

Nebeker describes herself as ?a child of the ?60?s.? Another thing you should know is that she threaded her first needle at the age of five.

Sound: [sewing machine for punctuation]

Nebeker: ?I couldn?t think of what to do, so I thought about quilts and the fact they are metaphoric hugs.?

She decided to organize a ?quilt-a-thon.? Vashon islanders like Su DeWalt responded en masse and followed instructions to check their politics at the door.

Su DeWalt: ?People feel so helpless about this war. So when there?s something that they can do in a positive way, it unites them and makes them feel like at least there?s something we can do that we feel is positive.?

Three frenzied days of sewing ensued. Then the ringleaders delivered 100 quilts to Madigan Army Hospital at Fort Lewis, Washington. It might have ended there, were it not for an off-hand comment.

Nebeker: ?We took the quilts down and they said, ?This is wonderful. When are you coming back?? So I came home and started trying to think how we could make this work.?

Nebeker used the internet to enlist a network of quilt makers and quilting guilds. Now it takes a cadre of volunteers to sew together all of the pieces that pour in from cities coast-to-coast and as far away as Ireland and Scotland.

Sound: [oooh... I like that. -- Isn?t it pretty?]

Each quilt represents untold hours of work.

Sound: [long-arm quilting machine]

The primary recipients are wounded soldiers and airmen in military hospitals. But on request, Nebeker will also mail a quilt to the survivors of a serviceman or woman.

Nebeker: ?We?re up in the 22-hundreds for the wounded warriors and hundreds of bereavement quilts and children?s quilts. We don?t keep a tally on those. It?s unbearable.?

Last year, the toll of the work and all the casualties it represents brought Nebeker to the edge of quitting. Then she took a call from a wounded soldier. He?d been feeling really down.

Nebeker: ?He said, ?You know ma?am. I got in that emergency room and that nurse wrapped a quilt around me.? And he said, ?It was like my momma and my grandma and all the people that love me were there holding me and hugging me.? He said, ?I will treasure this until the day I die.??

This month, her outfit ? American Hero Quilts -- got more thank you?s... at Fort Lewis.

Sound: [delivery of new load of quilts]

Sue Nebeker and Su DeWalt arrive in a Volvo stuffed to the roof with new quilts. Recovering soldiers help unload and get first pick.

Dahl: ?It?s red, white and blue. It has Uncle Sam in the center...?

Sgt. James Dahl was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The Missoula native is a patchwork himself. He?s undergone brain surgery, knee surgery, shoulder surgery and is scheduled for neck surgery.

Dahl: ?It makes a lot of difference. My dad came back from Vietnam ? I was six years old the first time -- and there was nothing. We come back here and there is an outpouring of love from the community.?

Specialist David Divine is also staying in the long-term recovery barracks. His red-white-and-blue star patterned quilt comes on the heels of other gifts from strangers such as a Christmas stocking, food, and games.

Divine: ?You know, if nobody was out there supporting us, it?d be miserable.?

The quilts provide comfort to these troops. But Nebeker hopes one of her quilts actually saves a life, like the ex-Marine she read about in the newspaper three-and-half years ago.

Nebeker: ?Maybe if we?re really incredibly fortunate, it would mean that someone looked at a quilt -- or wrapped a quilt around them -- and said, ?I think I can get through this hard time. I think I can make it. I think I can go forward.? If that happened just once, then all of this would have been worth it.?

The quilt makers vow to keep coming back until the Iraq War is over. I?m Tom Banse near Tacoma.

Web extras:

Photos for web-posting

[0214TB_Quilts1.jpg] By Tom Banse
Caption: FORT LEWIS, Wash. ? Spc. David Divine (from right, Sgt. Amedeo Camarco, and Sgt. Brian Kerrigan pose with their new quilts.

American Hero Quilts:
www.americanheroquilts.com

August 2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer story about war vet suicide that inspired the quilting project:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/186127_warsuicide13.html

Copyright 2008 KUOW

Back