Countywide : Quilt Banners Made for Mideast Marines

The Battalion Landing Team 1/4--deployed to the Middle East since the Persian Gulf crisis began in August--will soon receive handmade messages of love in the shape of four quilt banners made by the wives and family members of the Camp Pendleton Marines.

Lt. Col. George Flinn led the battalion team’s deployment, and his wife, Kitty, heads the support group for spouses at the base. Kitty Flinn organized the quilt project to raise spirits among the wives.

“Everyone was on the downside because of what was happening, and this got them into an upbeat mood,� she said.

Parents and other family members joined the wives in making the 6-inch-by-6-inch personalized squares that make up the queen-size banners. Each is decorated with puff paint, embroidery and fabric pens.

Several spouses glued photographs and yellow bows as reminders of home. The children drew handprints or sprinkled fabric glitter.

“As many wives as possible who left the base to stay with their families living out of the state were contacted about the project,� Flinn said.

The four quilts will be presented to the ships Cayuga, Ft. McHenry, Okinawa and Ogden by a first sergeant who has been on emergency leave but will return to the gulf region today.

Flinn said she and the other wives hope that by late next week their husbands will all get to see the quilts.

More than half of the 500 wives with husbands in the battalion participated in the project, according to Jeannie Baldwin, whose husband is with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit on the Okinawa.

The quilt bound for the Okinawa will feature the Creed of the Red Badge of Courage. Other banners have poems or the American flag as a centerpiece.