Why we do what we do ...

Vixanna and Deborah are right, the war is still continuing and the need is
still great.  It's gone on for so long though that some people just don't
want to think of it any more, especially if they don't have any one
involved.

However, I find it hard NOT to keep sewing for our soldiers and it's true I
do focus mainly on the wounded soldiers.  Many years ago my soldier
husband was laying on a stretcher that was connected to a cable and the
cable connected to the Helicopter hovering above the treetops of a Vietnam
jungle.  The other wounded soldiers I met while my husband was in the
hospitol amazed me.  At that time Ft. Ords hospitol wards were big open
bays.  If you wanted privacy the curtain was pulled around the bed, so I
got to know some of them well.  I would ask if any one had any requests as
I was on my way to visit.  Yes there were the usual requests, such as
books or playing cards.  One of my husbands neighbors asked if I would
bring a bag of skillet popped corn and to burn it just a little.  The
nurse on the ward had to keep watch over them like little boys at times
because one of their favorite things to do was to wheel chair race, or to
get up and walk and when they could, just keep on walking out the door.
Wounded men with smiles and big macho attitudes and I loved them all.

I can't stop paying that pilot back who lifted my husband out, or
remembering that there are soldiers just like my husbands ward mates that
still need to know that someone cares.  In June we will have been married
50 years.

I'm so glad that all of you are sewing for the same cause, and I love
hearing about your special sewing events and teaching the students how to
make a quilt.  Keep sharing your thank you notes.  They may be few and far
between but they go so far in keeping our spirits up and still sewing.

Submitted by Sharon D., KY