Service, Sacrifice and Valor

Just before the July 4th holiday weekend Don, one of our Brookestone Village residents, was invited to attend a special ceremony coordinated by the Quilts of Valor organization. Their goal is to honor and comfort veterans of war and say, “thank you for your service, sacrifice and valor.” Marilyn Fitch, a family friend of Don and his wife Nancy, reached out to Nancy to let her know about it, and invited Don to attend.

Brookestone Meadows, our sister care community in Elkhorn, hosted the event. There were 7 veterans present from different branches of service and different wars. Each veteran was presented with both a quilt that was personalized with their name and service information along with a special certificate that shows their name being placed in a national registry for recipients of the quilts. The veteran was then wrapped in their quilt and thanked for their service, sacrifice and valor by the Quilts of Valor members.

While playing High School football, Don sustained a serious injury to his cheekbone causing him to miss the first semester of his senior year. After healing from the surgery to place a silver plate in his cheek, he decided to enlist in the service. Don was a part of the Army Air Forces before the two branches were separated, and was an Aviation Cadet from 1944 to 1945. During the time spent in the Army Air Forces he was able to finish high school and take some college courses. He was stationed in both West Virginia and Texas, and was in flight training as a bombardier for fighter planes. He never went overseas as the war ended before his training was finished.

After completing his time in the Army Air Forces, thanks in part to the GI Bill, Don graduated from Michigan State. Don and his wife Nancy have three sons, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.