Veteran, Sanford AirMed pilot gifted Quilt of Valor for his service
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – A North Dakota veteran who’s now a Sanford AirMed pilot received a gift embodying comfort and gratitude Tuesday evening.
With his newly gifted Quilt of Valor draped around his neck, Chad Erickson said there’s one simple word to describe how he’s feeling: “I’m feeling honored.”
That’s exactly what those with the Quilts of Valor Foundation strive for.
“It was about a month ago I was contacted by Deb and she said that she wanted to honor me by giving me one of these quilts and I really didn’t know anything about Quilts of Valor, so I started looking into it and was like, ‘Yeah, that’d be awesome,'” Erickson recalled.
“It actually started in 2008. It was a lady that had a son overseas, and she just wanted to wrap her son with a quilt to honor them and make them feel warm and honored,” Deb Mitskog with Red River Quilters explained.
Working with Quilts of Valor, the group Red River Quilters based in Wahpeton has awarded more than 125 homemade quilts to veterans across North Dakota.
“It’s not a plaque thanking you for your service, it’s not a pen with your name on it. It is actually a quilt that you can sit in your recliner and wrap yourself with and wash it over and over and over again, and we’ve had veterans come back to us and say, ‘Thank you for this quilt. I sit in my recliner every night and watch TV under it,'” Mitskog said.
Erickson joined the Army in 1983 as a paratrooper.
In 2004, his co-pilot was shot while flying a Blackhawk in Iraq. Erickson was supposed to be the co-pilot that night.
He retired from the Army after 25 years, serving deployments in Somalia, Thailand and Iraq.
He says one similarity between what he did back then and what he does now is what keeps him going. “The people who are dedicated to their jobs. They’re professionals, they love what they do and they like helping people, so that’s why it’s such a joy to come and work for Sanford.”
To learn how to nominate a veteran to receive a Quilt of Valor, click here.
