History of Flag Quilt Project

For those of you wondering how this flag quilt project all began - here is some background information. My husband, Scott, has been an active duty military doctor at Walter Reed for 12 years. When Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) began in 2003 he was finishing his final year of residency in orthopaedic surgery at Walter Reed. Shortly after OIF began he found himself treating many severely wounded soldiers and the devastating toll of war became a grim daily reality for him. Scott worked many long hours and felt he could never do enough to help repair his patients. He was getting ready to leave Walter Reed for a year and we both hoped the war would be over before he returned.

We moved to Charlotte, NC later that year for Scott to complete a one-year fellowship in foot and ankle surgery. When he returned to Walter Reed as a staff orthopaedic surgeon in August 2004 the war was getting worse and the number of wounded soldiers was on the rise. In the months that followed Scott came home from work many days deeply distraught over the gravity of the injuries of his patients. He also began to share with me his tremendous concern for these brave men and women who serve in our armed forces and their remarkable attitude of selflessness, service, duty and loyalty.

These brave soldiers have left a permanent place in our hearts and my children and I wanted to find a way to honor and give thanks to them in an anonymous, non-intrusive manner. We came up with the idea to make flag quilts for them. A friend had taught me how to make flag quilts a few years earlier and my children suggested we make them for the soldiers. This turned into a family project and it's been a great way to help the kids understand what Scott does and more importantly what our soldiers do for us and our country. We wanted to have some quilts ready for Scott to give to his patients for Christmas 2004. A bunch of good friends and family jumped in to help. We really wanted this project to be accessible to anyone who wanted to say thanks to a soldier so we decided to let people sign the backs of the quilts and write thoughtful notes. My children's classmates, teachers, neighbors, friends and others all wanted to participate. On Christmas day, 2004, Scott put on his "dress-blue" military uniform and brought the quilts to his patients and other wounded soldiers along with some of his fellow physicians.

The response and support we have gotten from this project has been tremendous. These quilts are presented to some of the most seriously injured soldiers, many of them spend months and sometimes even a year or more at Walter Reed recovering from devastating injuries. With encouragement and support from others we have gradually tried to increase the number of quilts that are presented. In an effort to spread the word about this project, a friend encouraged me to enter the wonderful world of blogging. My contact information, the pattern for the flag quilt and other ways to help are included on this blog.

When people find out Scott works at Walter Reed with many of the wounded soldiers they always mention how much they want to tell the soldiers thank you. For those of you who have already helped and supported this project we are forever grateful. The soldiers and their families really represent all of us. This quilt project has provided a wonderful, simple way to let our soldiers know they are in our hearts and prayers without intruding on their recovery efforts. Scott continues to distribute quilts to the wounded soldiers each year. Our goal is to present as many quilts as possible to the soldiers at Walter Reed for Memorial Day, July 4th, Veteran's Day and Christmas. Ultimately, we would love to be able to present a flag quilt to each soldier at Walter Reed upon their arrival at the hospital. Of course, the greatest gift would be for all of our soldiers to be out of harms way.