Happy Tuesday Friends!

I hope everyone had a great week. 

A Vietnam Vet finally gets the recognition for his service that he should have gotten a long time ago, so grab a cuppa, sit back and relax while you soak up some well deserved gratitude from him and others! 

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Dear Deborah C,

I was absoluetly thilled to realise that someone in this wonderful country of ours remembers the young Australians who were sent to South-East Asia to fight on behalf of our country.

I was proud to play a small part in the the Viet Nam conflict and represent my country but on returning I was so disappointed in the attitude of some Australians and particularly the media that I never spoke about my experiences overseas.

Your quilt and your reasons for making it are simply wonderful and make me so happy. Three of our four children and their families were able to come “home” for the presentation on ANZAC Day and we had a very happy time, together with the two current military personnel who made the presentation and who were then able to share a meal with us.

I really appreciate the design of your masterpiece particularly the soldiers in the jungle prints as well as the overall layout and colour choices.

Please accept my sincere thanks for your kind thoughts and skilful handiwork and for sending me a memento I shall always treasure.

Kind regards

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Dear Lois S,

What a wonderful surprise is was for me to receive the amazing quilt that you made. It is perfect! I love it! Thank you so much for all the time and effort you must have put into it, I really do appreciate it.

Dear Hilary P,

I hope you are doing well.

I would like to thank you for such a beautiful quilt and a laundry bag. I really like it so much and my friends here love it too. You have done an amazing job with all the details on it. I like the middle eastern style on my quilt, especially the camel and HQME patch in the middle of the quilt. Rising Sun badge with my name, rank and PMKeYs is something that will keep reminding me about this deployment. I must say you are very talented and keep doing this good work, we love to receive quilts from you guys. Whenever someone receives a package from Aussie Quilts all the us gathered to see the quilt and pattern on it.

Good to hear you guys are travelling to Jordan and Egypt, I wish you best of luck for your adventure. I hope you guys have best time there. There is so much to see, I personally never been to those countries but it’s always on my bucket list. Few months back I had an opportunity to go to Egypt for work related but it got cancelled, it would have been good to see pyramids of Egypt.

We are doing good here, work is busy but whenever we get chance we try to enjoy our time. Sometimes we go to Dubai city and there is so much to see in this city. If you get chance you should visit to Dubai, it reminds me of Melbourne or Sydney. But it cannot be home. I do miss my family, I have a 5 month old baby girl, she just start sitting on her dinning chair. It’s very excited to see her growing, when I left her she was only 2 months old like a tiny baby. Now she is growing fast, next month I am going home for two weeks on a leave. I am very excited to see her. I am going to take my quilt with me and I will put this quilt on her cot. 
One more thing I like to mention, cookies were amazing I shared with my friends. They all enjoyed it so much. We like to thank you for such a tasty cookies.

Thank you again Hilary.
Take care,

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Good afternoon Ann S

 

Just a quick email to let you know that both the boxes of laundry bags you kindly created and sent over to us have arrived, and will be distributed to the next rotation of soldiers to visit Butterworth Base. There are some lovely designs in amongst them, particularly the use of the ‘hearts and bunnies’, the old camouflage pattern many of us remember with fondness! Thank you so much for the blessing to our troops – it really does mean so much to know that there are people back home who are thinking of them. Some of the young soldiers who arrive have this trip as their first experience of leaving Australia. To do so knowing that they have such support is great.

 

Blessings,

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Hi Ellen N,

 

I’ve just received my quilt and my family absolutely love it. My son was very interested in the fish and kept pointing at them. It’s good to hear you’re doing a lot of traveling! My partner (also a nurse) and baby and I love camping too. We hope to see you on the road sometime. Tell your husband I also try my luck at fishing and not very successful, so don’t worry. 

 

Thanks for your family’s service. 

 

Kind regards,

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Dear Jenny R

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G’Day Joy H,

I received the quilt, laundry bag and your letter and wanted to express my thanks for your work and efforts in providing this. They are about to travel a fair distance and will continue too throughout my time in Navy.

Regards and thanks again

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Hi Joy H, 

I wish to thank you very much for the wonderful quilt that I was recently presented at the Royal Commission Taskforce.  I apologise for the delay in writing to you, but I have had Covid, and been laying somewhat low!

The design is brilliant, and I am extremely honoured to be the recipient. It will be a permanent and very valued part of our lives.

BTW My wife agrees with me that the dog is very much like our Bichons, and you certainly shouldn’t regret giving it a good go! (Our first Bichon was actually a Bichon/Maltese cross, so they are very similar.)

Aussie Hero Quilts program is an extremely impressive initiative – and your part in the production is quite prodigious. You should be very proud of your involvement and contributions.

As background, my Dad was in the Navy, and I was in the Army, retiring as a Major.  My wife and I have two sons: one in Melbourne with his wife and two daughters, and the other lives near Gundaroo, with his wife and four children.  He is ex-AirForce, and works for a Defence contractor.  Our grandchildren are between 9 and 16 years, so we have a while before the next generation.

We live on the coast and I drive to Canberra early Mondays, home Tuesday evenings, and work from home for the TaskForce on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  It’s a full – but rewarding life!

Best regards

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Until next week keep your letters, emails and photos coming in.