Comfort Quilt Dedicated at Veteran's Day Ceremony
 

Gwendolyn (left) and Lilian (right) Frew watch their mother LCDR Patricia McKay, MC, on television as she gives an oral account of her experiences aboard USNS Comfort during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Quilt displayed to the left was dedicated at a Veterans Day ceremony at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Nov. 11.by JO3 Erica Mater
Journal Staff Writer 
 

The USNS Comfort quilt was dedicated in a Veterans Day ceremony at the Women In Military Service for America (WIMSA) Memorial Nov. 11. The event marked the last day of a 20-month journey for the quilt. 

The ceremony at WIMSA honored past and present women veterans including women of the Army's 82nd Airborne unit who recently returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The centerpiece of the observance was the opening of the new exhibit for the Comfort quilt. 

LT Paula Godes, MSC, who works in Staff Education and Training at NNMC and spearheaded the quilt project while aboard Comfort during her deployment in support of OIF, delivered the keynote address in front of WIMSA Memorial, which is adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery. 

"We gather today in this great place, where so many who have known the taste of freedom and who died protecting ours, are buried. I realize that a quilt falls far short of honoring those brace men and women, in the way they deserve. Yet we hope, and we believe this quilt will serve as a reminder of those who continue to fight, and those who continue to care for them, overseas and here at home," said Godes. 

NNMC Chaplain (LCDR) Mark Koczak was the first male chaplain to deliver the invocation at WIMSA. 

"It was an honor to be able to be a part of this special time for my shipmates who served aboard Comfort during OIF," said Koczak. "The quilt is truly an amazing piece of work and reflects the unity of the Comfort crew and what we did out there last year." 

Comfort deployed in support of OIF last spring and treated more than 300 patients including American and coalitons forces, Iraqi enemy prisoners of war and Iraqi civilians. 

Among the honored guests were former and present Comfort Medical Treatment Facility Commanding Officers CAPT Charles Blankenship, MC, and CAPT Thomas Allingham, MC. 

The quilt will be on display at WIMSA for a year before setting sail as a traveling exhibit across the country. 
http://www.dcmilitary.com/navy/journal/9_46/local_news/32145-1.html