Staff photo by Fritz Busch Sleepy Eye Vietnam Veterans Jerry Piehl, left, and Steven Jensen wear their Quilts of Valor and hold their certificates received in front of the Veteran’s Memorial and a Huey helicopter in Sleepy Eye Veteran’s Park Saturday. Piehl and Jensen’s wives, Robin, left, and Joleen were also part of the Quilts of Valor Foundation ceremony led by Sleepy Eye native Paula (Murphy) Domena of Pipestone.

SLEEPY EYE — Vietnam Veteran Jerry Piehl saw the red cross on a Huey helicopter at Sleepy Eye Veteran’s Park Saturday and talked about what it meant to him in detail.

“That (Red) Cross on the Huey medical evacuation helicopter brings back a memory. We called them a ‘dust off,’ he said referring to the evacuation of soldiers by helicopter for a platoon he led 56 years ago. He recited making a radio call.

“One-niner. Dust off one-niner. Dust off one-niner. This is foggy day two-five. Got a copy? I got you in sight, popping smoke. Coming in November Whiskey (from the northwest),” he said.

An Army infantry staff sergeant (E6), Piehl received three Purple Hearts, Silver and Bronze Stars and a Army Air medal, Silver and Bronze Stars, a Combat Infantry Badge and an Air Medal.

He received the Purple Hearts for being wounded three times by shrapnel (bomb or shell fragments) in Vietnam.

Piehl pointed to spots in his face where the shrapnel remains.

He and another Sleepy Eye Vietnam Veteran, Stephen Jensen, received handmade Quilts of Valor awarded to veterans touched by war for their service and sacrifices. The quilts are given to provide comfort and help veterans and other service members heal.

Jensen said he rode on only one helicopter in Vietnam with a red cross on it after being hit by shrapnel. He served in the Army in 1968-1969.

“It hit my arm, knee and ankle. I didn’t feel it. I didn’t know I was hit. Somebody told me I was hit. Then I saw blood, a helicopter crew came and got me,” he said.

Jensen received a Purple Heart, Bronze, Air and Army Commendation medals and a Combat Infantry Badge.

Sleepy Eye native Paula (Murphy) Domena of Pipestone and a Quilts of Valor volunteer said she will help anybody interested in the Quilts of Valor Foundation nomination process.

She said the Quilts of Valor (QOV) Foundation began in 2003 after founder Catherine Roberts who had a son deployed in Iraq, had a nightmare about young soldiers being negatively impacted by war, followed by a vision of the same young soldier wrapped in a quilt.

Domena said the first quilt was given to a young Minnesota soldier who lost his leg in Iraq.

A national organization funded by donations and operated by volunteers, QOV has given more than 500,000 quilts made by volunteers to veterans.

Domena said Pieces for Heroes, a chapter of the national QOV organization, was founded by Nancy McClain in Marshall in 2018, has given more than 400 QOVs in southwest Minnesota and parts of South Dakota and Iowa.

To nominate a person for a quilt, visit www.QOVF.org/nominations/awards. To donate to QOV, a non-profit organization, visit www.QOVF.org/donate.