This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
10/16/2019 08:54 AMWestbrook Honor Guard (WHG) Commander Joseph Barry began the Quilts of Valor (QOV) presentation with a prayer he wrote himself.
“Valor,” he said, “is not measured by the number of stitches, or the colors in the pattern, but by the sacrifices made.
“All veterans deserve recognition for their service to our country and these quilts bring warmth and comfort to those who will receive them today,” he continued, neatly summarizing the mission of the Quilts of Valor organization.
Seven members of the WHG, military veterans who volunteer to honor fellow veterans at their funerals, were presented with handmade quilts at Westbrook Town Hall on Sept. 26. The members honored were Dan Cappiello (Navy, 1951–’55), Joe Lacasse (Navy, 1966–’69), Dick Barry (Army, 1958–’61), Edward Shensie (Marine Corps, 1959–’63), Bill Schmid (Navy, 1948–’53), Joseph Barry (Army, 1959–’62), and Guy Deutermann (Navy, 1958–’64).
Connecticut QOV coordinator Jane Dougherty presided over the presentation.
Westbrook Senior Center volunteer Jan Emack was the conduit between the two organizations. The members of the WHG are Westbrook Senior Center regulars. And when another local veteran, Bob Wilcox, came into the center with his quilt, she decided the men from the WHG deserved their own presentation.
She happens to know Nancy Burns, the coordinator of the Old Saybrook Piecemakers, the local QOV branch. Both women live in Clinton.
“This lightbulb went off and I said, ‘Hey, I can do this for these guys. They deserve it,’” Emack said.
Cappiello, who served on an aircraft carrier during the Korean War, was the first to be presented with—and wrapped in—a quilt. This was followed by hugs from Dougherty, Burns, and QOV volunteer quiltmakers Mike Neville and Patty Doak.
Asked how he felt about the presentation afterward, Capiello said, “Outside of fantastic, I can’t—I’d never heard of [QOV], number one. But of course, it hasn’t been around that long. [Dougherty] said 2003. It started with the era of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s really an honor for us guys, us older guys to even be getting these things,” he continued. “‘Cause you know, I was never in combat. So for me to be honored with a quilt alongside of a guy who was being shot at, I feel pretty good about that. But like [Dougherty] mentioned, it’s just a matter of, you put your right hand up and you swore to [perform] your duty with the government, with the country, and you let it go at that.”
Deutermann also served on an aircraft carrier, the USS Hancock, during the Vietnam War.
“When you’re on an aircraft carrier, they don’t tell you where they are,” he said. “But we were in the area” of Vietnam. “I was on the flight deck, working with the catapults.”
Deutermann is from Mamaroneck, New York, where his father bought a boatyard in 1952 and ran it until 1970. Duetermann managed the boatyard for the next 40 years.
“I came here by boat to Hamburg Cove and fell in love with it,” he said.
The quilt presentation, he said, was “so heartwarming. It’s amazing...It was not a good reception when we got back [from Vietnam]. To see this and the way the whole military is honored today, it’s wonderful. It’s nice to have that recognition.”
WHG member and former commander “Ken McCarthy recruited me—it’s almost 10 years ago,” said Deutermann. McCarthy told him, “‘You go to some of these funerals and there’s nobody there. The family’s all gone.’”
The WHG has provided more than 1,000 veterans’ funerals, Deutermann said.
“We ring a bell eight times,” he explained. “And we say the deceased’s name and rank and [military branch]. And then we play ‘Taps.’ We have a bugler, a trumpet player that plays ‘Taps’...Everything is done for nothing.
“And then we fire the rifles, usually three or four rifles, three volleys,” he continued. “Fold the flag and present it. If it’s a Navy guy or an Army guy, we try to pick somebody out of the group that’s been in that branch and he’ll present the flag to the next of kin.
“You know, as we get older—we used to do this all winter,” said. “We don’t do that anymore. If somebody dies during the winter, we can do them a service in the springtime. A lot of us slip and slide and it’s not worth somebody getting hurt.”
A third member of the WHG who served on a Navy aircraft carrier is Bill Schmid. Schmid recently suffered a stroke and came to the presentation directly from his rehabilitation facility.
“I thought it was nice,” he said of the presentation. “I came all the way from my deathbed down here for the quilt. That’s how bad I wanted that quilt. I just got out today. I’m going home.
“I decided I’d come here so I’ll have a warm blanket tonight,” he said.