MONTAGUE — Ten veterans became the latest to receive a quilt from
the Quilts of Valor Foundation Sunday at the White Lake VFW, but for one
in particular, the ceremony represented a remarkable reunion.
John
Ebenstein, of Stanwood, was one of the 10 honored with a quilt, and
another special part of the day for him was reuniting with Ken Giddis of
Montague, a White Lake VFW member. Both men served at Camp Matta in
Korea in the late 1960s and while there, bonded over the fact that they
were the only servicemembers there (that they knew of, anyway) from
Michigan.
While their tours overlapped, though, they did not
depart Korea at the same time, and they lost touch once their time in
the Army was over. Sunday was the first time since then that they'd seen
one another. It may not have happened but for a happy coincidence -
Ebenstein saw a recent news report on TV about a Quilts of Valor
ceremony at Montague High School in which Giddis spoke (Giddis received
his Quilt of Valor in 2022) and recognized him. His wife, Joyce, soon
after reached out to the foundation on behalf of her husband.
"I
never
thought I'd see anybody (from over there again)," Ebenstein said, to
which Giddis replied, "I didn't either. You're the first since I've
been home."
Ebenstein said their time in Korea was little
noted by many - the Vietnam War was in progress at the time and got far
more attention - but armed skirmishes near the Demilitarized Zone
separating North and South Korea were common in those years, the Korean
War having only recently ended. Giddis said his service mostly revolved
around reconnaissance, so he didn't spend much time around the base, but
he and Ebenstein spent most of their available time together. That made
their reunion Sunday a special time.
"This is the first our
wives have met," Giddis said. "I don't think he's changed a bit.
I've gotten a little heavier, and John (has) too. We have a lot more
gray hair than we did then, (and it's) a little thinner. It's
been a long time for us. It's good to be back together
and see each other again."
Ebenstein expressed a viewpoint
common among those who receive quilts - that he felt humbled by it,
modestly feeling his service did not call for such an honor.
"It's great to see Ken again and
everything, but as far as the quilt, I don't really feel like I did anything special," Ebenstein said.
"We had to do a job, and we served and we were there," Giddis said. "We did what
we were asked to do."
Giddis said in the TV report Ebenstein
saw, he was actually able to be around some of the people who make the
quilts, which he felt was a great honor.
The Quilts of Valor
foundation aims to provide comfort and healing to veterans who served
through its awards. As is said at each ceremony, "a quilt is not a
blanket," because it has three layers of fabric instead of just one.
Other
Quilts of Valor honorees Sunday were William Suggs, Kelly Sue Grow,
Mark Upson, Tammy Sloan, Dirk Chilcote, Barbara Locke, Gary Hoffmeyer,
Gerald Buttleman and Arthur Higgison. They represented service in every
decade from the 1960s through the 2000s, as well as representing all
five long-running branches of the military: Upson, Sloan and Buttleman
were in the Army like Ebenstein was; Higgison and Suggs served in the
Navy; Chilcote and Locke were in the Air Force; Hoffmeyer was in the
Marines; and Grow served in the Coast Guard.
Chilcote, who is
mobility-limited, brought his service dog, Tiger, with him, and said he
does some work training service dogs. He said his work started when, in
2018, the Department of Veterans Affairs told him it could take years to
pair him with a service dog, so he just decided to begin training his
own.
"(It's) a lot of time and effort," Chilcote said. "It's
just like training any other dog, but they get trained specifically to
the
needs of the disabled."
In the last couple of years, Chilcote
said, he's had 29 puppies, and around half of them have ended up being
trained as service dogs. White Lake VFW member Jerry Doran, as it
happens, was instrumental in getting Chilcote a Quilt of Valor, and
Doran in turn is receiving one of Chilcote's dogs. Chilcote said he
works with a nonprofit in Delaware, CASH (Canines Assisting Service
Heroes), to get service dogs paired with veterans in need.
