Dear Beverley F,
Firstly, thank you so much for the quilt! I absolutely love it, it truly captures my biggest loves in life. The choice of colours is fantastic, the hiking and diving with the look of sunset in her background is beautiful. You are phenomenally talented and I feel so privileged to have received one of your quilts.
A little about me, I was born and raised in Brisbane where I also went to university and studied robotics engineering. I joined the RAN in 2012 and on completion of all my training I was posted to HMAS Parramatta, an ANZAC Class Frigate where I conducted my Assistant Engineer time. From here I posted to Canberra for a couple of years before being given the opportunity to deploy here to the Middle East.
My grandfather was a Bristol Beaufighter pilot in the RAAF during WW2 and served mostly in the Pacific as he had lived in Singapore and escaped during the fall. My Uncle served in the RAN during Vietnam and was a stoker on HMAS Sydney whilst it was the Vung Tau Ferry. Both of them spoke of their time in the service very fondly, which convinced me to join.
Again, thank you for the beautiful quilt.
Yours sincerely,
……
Hi Jenny,
Thank you so much for my laundry bag. It is amazing and definitely too good to put dirty laundry in – I am the team Medical Scientist.
In my limited down time here, I go to the gym, read and socialise. When at home, I like to spend my spare time with my family and friends and enjoy running and swimming.
This is my first deployment and I have found it so far to be an amazing experience. I have made lots of friends for life from all over the world and love my work here. I enjoy hoe close the medical team is and how we work well together. I get to see the other side of health care here and get to work in a lot closer with Doctors and Nurses than I would get in a civilian job back in Australia.
Thank you so much,
……
Dear Jenny P,
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for the gift. I greatly appreciate the effort and time you have put in to making the laundry bag. A s you are probably aware, RAEME has a large esprit de corps and the laundry bag clearly represents the colours and the Corps very well.
I was born in Sydney, NSW, but spent most of my childhood growing up on the Gold Coast, QLD. My background is mechanical engineering and I am the workshop Platoon Commander for the 5th Batallion, The Royal Australian Regiment in Darwin. I am currently deployed in Iraq. I am having a ball and loving the new experiences I share with some great Australian and New Zealand service men and women.
My partner and twin brother are in the Navy and between us, we have had our fair share of experiences. We do not necessarily look at our service as a sacrifice but rather an experience of a lifetime. We share a common belief that the people that we work for and with are just normal people that do extraordinary things which inspire us all in many different ways.
I personally believe that anyone who sacrifices the little things in life in service to helping others, without the need for recognition, are truly Australian heroes, which I’m sure is reflected in your 20 years of nursing. And for that, I thank you.
It is people like you that our Australian and New Zealand soldiers represent at home and overseas. So with all this, I thank you for the gift and I hope this letter finds you well.
Best wishes for the rest of the year and I wish good health to you and all of your family.
Sincerely,
……
Dear Jenny,
Thank you very much for my RAAF laundry bag. As one of the very few RAAF personnel where I am, the blue stands out against all the Army ones. The colours have certainly brightened my week. The RAAF camouflage pattern on the back matches my uniform back home. At the moment I’m wearing Army green. I will take a photo of it to show my wife and two daughters back in Canberra.
I’ve typed this letter because many of my colleagues complain that they can’t read my handwriting.
Yes, being away from family can be challenging but modern communications such as WhatsApp make connecting back to home quite easy compared to when I was in Afghanistan ten years ago. Back then we used to queue-up to use land lines much like you would see in a prison movie!
My parents, who are in their mid-80s now, retired to Lemon Tree Passage on Port Stephens and we often drive past the central coast and occasionally drop in for a swim to break up the journey or to cool off.
Once again, I express my genuine thanks for your gift and please pass on my thanks to all your fellow Aussie Hero Quilters. Whenever someone gets a package from your quilters we all gather round to see it opened and compare our gifts.
Regards,
…..
Good Afternoon Ellen,
Firstly I want to thank you for my gorgeous quilt. You absolutely nailed the pink theme and the aircraft add the perfect finishing touches – THANK YOU! I have been away since Oct 19 and was due to return home in the next few weeks, however due to the Covid19 pandemic we have been extended with an unknown return date so your quilt has really made me smile when I’ve needed it most J
I love that you are an Army brat, with such an extensive military family background did you ever consider joining the forces?
I am a Navy brat and grew up mostly in Nowra – how small is this world. I am currently based in Canberra but I bring my three young boys (11, 8 & 4) camping in the September/October school holidays every year and my two best friends from school still live in Nowra.. I love coming “home” J
We work some crazy hours, but I am very grateful for the unique experience and the opportunity to travel to places such as Muscat and Bahrain.
I have attached some pictures for you so I’m not a complete stranger!
Thank you again, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into my amazing quilt.
Take care and good luck with everything happening at home.
Kind regards,
…..
Hi Jenny
I like to thank you for the quilt it is amazing and far beyond Anything I was expecting. It’s something that I will continue to use while I’m posted to HMAS Toowoomba although once I post off it may be hard for me to stop my 4yr old son from claiming as he is a massive star wars fan as well and has a tendency to seal any of my star wars related stuff. Rest assured that it will be well loved by both myself and my son Atticus for many years to come.
I’d like to thank you for the time and effort you have cleary put in and it is very much appreciated its acts of kindness like this that makes long trips away from home that little bit easier to bear. Thanks for the treats and coffee they are where amazing.
Thank you Jenny and your team for the time and effort in making these trips little easier and giving us a great keep sake to remember the deployment and the support we receive from home……
The quilt arrived today and it is amazing!! Thank you so much for sending it to me! For your information, I had received a quilt during my time in Afghanistan in 2013, and I wanted to request one from my most recent deployment so my twin daughters each had something to remind them of their sacrifice as well as mine. Here is a photo with them each with the quilt, the one on the left is the one from 2013, and you would recognise the other one.
Lovely.