Everett Wallin was wrapped in a quilt and a hug from members of the Marshall area Quilts of Valor group on Saturday. A total of 13 area veterans were honored for their service and presented with quilts sewn in patriotic designs.

MARSHALL — Not every veteran coming home from military service gets a warm welcome. But that’s something that a group of area quilters has been working to fix, said Nancy McClain.

“We want you to know that you will never be forgotten,” McLain told a group of area veterans during a Quilts of Valor presentation on Saturday.

In a ceremony at the Marshall Adult Community Center, a total of 13 area veterans were presented with quilts sewn in patriotic patterns. Honorees included Ray Schmidt, Rick Banbury, Dan Dybsetter, Mike Leese, Richard Maurer, Darrell Mercie, Everett Wallin, Arlyn Stokesbury, Howard Hamilton, Emily Gravley, Corky Lauritsen, Steve Koch and Howard Steenhoven.

Over the past few years, the area Quilts of valor group has held several quilt presentations for veterans. Saturday’s presentation was for one of their largest groups of yet, said Bruce Fuhrmann, of the Marshall American Legion post.

“Thank you for your service. You deserve more than today,” Fuhrmann told honorees.

Quilts of Valor is a national organization dedicated to making quilts to honor and comfort U.S. military service members and veterans.

“The national organization has done 392,000 quilts since 2003,” McLain said. Since 2017, the area group has made about 370 quilts. The area Quilts of Valor group meets twice a month in Marshall to sew, she said.

Volunteers wrapped each of the honorees in their own quilt, while Fuhrmann shared a little bit about each veteran’s military service history. The veterans honored Saturday came from different branches of military, including the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force.

Most of Saturday’s honorees served in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. They served in different capacities, from communications to artillery. Some, like Rick Banbury and Corky Lauritsen, were wounded and received the Purple Heart, Furhmann said. Banbury served in the infantry in the central highlands of Vietnam, while Lauritsen was a door gunner in the 134th Assault Helicopter Company.

There was one honoree, Emily Gravley, who was an Iraq veteran. Gravley served 12 years with the National Guard in Washington state and Minnesota, Fuhrmann said. In 2004, she was deployed to Iraq with the Washington National Guard Armored Brigade, and later she volunteered for a second tour in Iraq with the Minnesota National Guard.

Presenters said it was good to be able to see veterans get the recognition they deserved, especially because many Vietnam vets didn’t get a good reception from civilians when they came home from the war.

“It would have been nice if we had had this back during the Vietnam era. We all know how awful that experience was for our soldiers coming back. But anyway, we have it now, and all of us ladies are just thrilled,” McLain told the audience. “There are tears, there is a lot of happiness of being able to give this to our troops,” she said.

The ceremony was something meaningful for veterans, as well.

Richard Maurer said he had looked into Quilts of Valor before Saturday’s quilt presentation. “This was much more than I thought it was going to be,” he said.

Maurer said that over the past 10 or 15 years, it’s become easier for Vietnam veterans to speak about their experiences.

Dan Dybsetter said the women who made the quilts for the veterans deserved thanks, too.

“When they sent their loved ones off to the military, they were left home to worry. And so they sacrificed as well,” he said.