Patchers honor four combat veterans in Sun City West

Four combat veterans were presented with a quilt made by the Palo Verde Patchers members April 17. Each quilt has many hands touching it before being presented.  There is the construction of each block, assembly of the blocks, longarm quilting, binding around the quilt and lastly the label sewn on the back. A cotton pillow case and instructions on care of the quilt are also provided to each recipient.

Jerry Koffel, served in the Air Force from March 1953 through June 1977. His service included Korea, the Cold War and Vietnam. He was a B52 pilot and instructor for one year during his service.

Tom McLean served in the Navy from September 1964 to July 1 1986. His service was in the Navy Supply Corp specializing in ship loading, warehouse and finance in DaNang.

Eric Havican’s service was in the Marines from 1998 to 2003 in the unit 332 Moonlighters as a jet mechanic on F18s strike squadron in Kosovo and in Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan.

Floyd McNair enlisted shortly after high school and joined the Navy for service from 1964 to 1968. His first tour of duty was on the USS Constellation in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam. The second tour was in DaNang as Navy security with the Naval Support Facility.

Palo Verde Patchers invites everyone to submit an application for a quilt for any known combat veteran. The information and application is at patchers.scwclubs.com. All are welcome to the presentations as well. The next will be 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, in the Palo Verde Patchers Club Room at the Kuentz Recreation Center.