Gary Huseman Quilt of Valor Recipient
Submitted
Gary Huseman enlisted into the US Navy after graduation at the age of 17 in 1970. He was a senior Chief of Aviation Ordinance. He was responsible for a wide range of duties related to aircraft weapons and ordnance. His responsibilities included leadership, aiming and ensuring the safety and proper handling of weapons, ammunition, and related equipment on aircraft and naval ships.
He was stationed mostly in the Pacific Reagions of Japan, Philippines, and South China Sea. He has been stationed I Kentucky and Tennessee as a technical training specialist as well.
He served for 21 years with seven years on the same ship. Gary retired in 1991.
In April 1945, President Harry Truman said, “Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.
A Quilt of Valor is not a charity quilt. A Quilt of Valor is not a blanket. Quilts of Valor are awarded not just passed out. A Quilt of Valor says unequivocally, “Thank you for your service, sacrifice and valor in serving our nation.
A quilt consists of three layers held together by its quilting stitches. We like to think of the layers in this way:
The top of the quilt with its many colors, shapes, and fabrics, represents the communities and the many individuals we are.
The batting Ð the filler- is the center of the quilt, its warmth. The batting represents our hope that this quilt will brig warmth comfort, peace and healing tot he individual who receives it.
The backing is the strength that supports the other layers. It represents the strength of the recipient, the support of his or her family, our communities and our nation.
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Each stitch that holds the layers together represents love, gratitude, and sometimes the tears of the maker.
The Quilt of Valor Foundation is a grassroots group of quilters from across the United States. In 2003, a quilter named Catherine Roberts had the idea of comforting Veterans with quilts during the time her son was deployed in Iraq. Since then, over 300,000 Quilts of Valor have been awarded in the U.S. and overseas. This quilt awarded to Gary Huseman was made by Nancy Nelson of Cherokee Quilt Batts.
VALOR is an olf-fashioned word. Valor comes from the best of the human heart: generosity of the soul, from nobility of spirit, from the love of community and country.
Youth is promised that if they live well anything is possible. But the call to enlist asks them to take a big risk Ð to step into the unknown, going wherever they are told, follow new rules, take a chance they they may never have that future or any future at all. They sign a blank check pledging to their country to give whatever is asked, up to and including their life.
To take that risk for love of country and community is VALOR. That is what we celebrate and honor with a Quilt of Valor.