Calhoun County, SC (WLTX) - The South Carolina headquarters of the Quilts of Valor Foundation moved into their new building in Calhoun County on Saturday, and awarded seven veterans with a Quilt of Valor. This is the highest award a civilian can present a service member, and is a symbol of comfort and healing.
"We can do the things we love in the comforts of our home because of our service members," said Annie Mixon, the state coordinator for Quilts of Valor in South Carolina.
The sacrifice that our service members make can leave them with scars, some that are not visible.
"The people who've been in the war zone and come back home," said Harvey Mayhill, a retired airman, "those that have been there, no explanation is necessary. For those who have not been there, no explanation is possible."
Mayhill was in the Air Force from 1961 to 1965. He says he was supposed to serve in the Vietnam War twice, and never ended up having to. Now, he volunteers with the Quilts of Valor as the coordinator for the upstate of South Carolina as a way of paying it back.
"For those that went in my place, the ones who took the bullets for me, and the ones who never came back home," Mayhill said, "it's the least I can do to pay them back."
The quilts are sewn by volunteers and given to veterans as a way to say thank you. Mixon says one quilt takes more than 100 hours to complete, and the materials for each of them cost about $250 dollars. Seven veterans local to Calhoun County were surprised with one.
"Yea, it was a total shock," said Marzettis O'Neal, who spent 20 years in the army, "it's good to feel wanted, needed, and cared for."
"So many people have given and sacrificed for us," Mixon said, "they don't even know us."
Mixon says it is that selflessness that inspires her.
"It's something I wasn't willing to do," Mixon said, "but I can sew. And I can make them a quilt, and I can say, 'Thank you for your service.'"
"Hopefully when they wrap that quilt around them and take it off, that some of those war demons will go with that quilt," Mayhill said.
For Mixon, sewing and handing out quilts is not just an act of gratitude. It's an honor.
"Being able to wrap it around our service members and hug them and say, 'Thank you for your service,'" Mixon said, "sometimes I think I get more out of it than they do."