Six veterans were presented Quilts of Valor in a program on Sunday afternoon at the Exeter Legion. Pictured (from the left) are Dean Gerberding, Brian Hinders, Jerry Kelch, Robert Bartu, Ronald Perkins, and Richard Perkins.
Six veterans were honored with a Quilt of Valor on Sunday, November 10th at the Exeter Legion.
Pat Becker, a representative of the Quilt of Valor Foundation, led a prayer and the pledge of allegiance to open the ceremony.
Becker introduced the QOV program and how it was started in 2003 when QOV founder Catherine Roberts’ son was deployed in Iraq. A dream gave her the idea that quilts from home would be comforting to those serving and so she began to make them to award to active military along with veterans.
Roberts created a non-profit foundation to guide the project. Since 2003 over 400,903 quilts have been awarded to those who have served, “A Quilt of Valor says in a way that words cannot express, we thank you.”
Becker added her own thoughts thanking the veterans for “putting their lives on hold for the good of our nation. . .these quilts are infused with our community's deep appreciation of your service.”
Becker contacted each of the veterans who were nominated to receive the quilt and documented their service history. John Tauriella, the chaplain for the Exeter Sons of the Legion unit, read aloud each veterans service history.
Each of the men was draped in their quilt by Becker and Sue Kittinger. After the ceremony the program was dismissed by Becker with the words that some may not have heard upon returning from duty, “Thank you and welcome home.”
Before enjoying refreshments, many of those in attendance personally thanked each veteran.
RICHARD PERKINS
Veteran Richard Perkins of Exeter, graduated from Fairmont High School in 1954. He furthered his education by attending Milford Trade School to study welding. His first employment was as a welder at the Fairmont Air Base.
In 1956 at the age of 20, Perkins was drafted into the Army. He went to Basic Training in Fort Carson, Col. and then on to Stuttgart, Germany for more training. From there he worked in the anti aircraft motor pool and changed parts. While stationed there, his younger sister was diagnosed with cancer. The Red Cross enabled him to get back to Nebraska just shortly before she died.
Since it was during peacetime, he did not have to go back to Germany and reported to Fort Riley, Kan. for his last few months of service. He later joined the Army Reserves and served until he was honorably discharged as a Corporal in 1962.
RONALD PERKINS
Veteran Ronald Perkins of Lincoln, Neb. graduated from Exeter High School in 1962. In 1965, during the Vietnam era, he enlisted in the Army Reserves and served until 1971. Ron went to Basic Training and AIT at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He served six years in the Drill Sergeant unit as a clerk for Camp Training.
In 1972 Ron joined the Army National guard working weekends. His responsibility was ordering and distributing parts for all military vehicles to all of the guard units across the state. He retired from service in 1988 and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant First Class E7.
ROBERT BARTU
Veteran Robert Bartu of Exeter graduated from Milligan High School in 1965 and was drafted in February 1966 and entered the Army during the Vietnam Era. He attended Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
He served for a month with the Army Band in Anchorage, Alaska while waiting for his orders to be straightened out.
He was then stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska where he served until January 1968. Bartu played the sousaphone with the 9th Army Band, the official band for the state of Alaska.
His primary job was to meet the generals who flew in to inspect the missile silos in Alaska. The band would play a few marches as the generals walked from the plane to the staff car and then the band would play again as the generals left a few days later.
The band also played a morning concert for the general three times a week and marched around the base stopping at selected barracks and playing for them twice a week. They also recorded programs once a week for the college FM station in the recording studio on base.
Once a year the band flew to Sitka, Alaska to celebrate Alaska’s independence from Russia. They also marched in a lot of county fairs and performed a winter concert in Fairbanks.
Bartu was required to attend Arctic Survival school his first winter in Alaska. This taught him to survive the temperatures while moving around and fighting. He had a squad tent with no heat. The coolest night during their survival school was -68 degrees.
The highest ranking official that Bartu performed for was Vice President Hubert Humphrey in 1967 as he returned from Russia to sell American grain to them. Humphrey thanked the band and shook hands with each member.
Bartu was honorably discharged as a Specialist 4 in January 1968.
JERRY KELCH
Veteran Jerry Kelch of Exeter graduated from Geneva High School in 1964. He entered the Air Force on May 5, 1968 during the Vietnam Era.
Kelch had requested that he study Heating and Air after boot camp and was promised by his recruiter this would happen but once he entered service he was told he would be studying munitions and his second choice would be Heating and Air.
He entered boot camp at the Joint Base in San Antonio-Lackland, Tex. known as the Gateway to the Air Force.
From there he went to Lawry Air Force Base in Denver, Col. for Munitions Specialist Training. He learned about types of color codes and what they would do.
He vividly recalled the shooting of a “gatling gun,” a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm with a rate of as many as 6000 rounds per minute. Kelch recalled that it sounded like a saw and was so loud they had to open their mouth or use earplugs to prevent damage to ear drums.
Kelch’s final duty station was Berkshire Welford Air Force Base in England. He was released early as they did not want him to restart for just six months in the States. He later used the GI bill to study HVAC in college.
He was honorably discharged from the Air Force as a sergeant on Oct 31, 1968.
BRIAN HINDERS
Veteran Brian Hinders of Norton Shores, Mich. grew up in Exeter and graduated from Exeter High School in 1999. He immediately enlisted in the Navy and two weeks later was headed to Basic Training. He served 14 years in the military and was part of both the Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Hinders’ Navy career started in the Naval Station Great Lakes boot camp. From there Hinders was sent to Naval Air Station in Pensacola, FL and then back to Great Lakes for mariner training.
His first cruise was on the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) which was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He went on his first Western Pacific deployment and covered several thousand miles at sea. They visited foreign ports showing the US Flag.
Hinders participated in multiple interdictions at sea and answered the call to help fellow mariners at sea. It was a very fruitful and peaceful deployment.
From there, Hinders was deployed to help test a new missile, the “Standard Missile 3” an anti-theater ballistic missile. It would engage with incoming nuclear ballistic missiles as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Tests were conducted from the island of Hawaaii and the US Marshall Islands. Hinders helped conduct the first six missile shots, all but one was a success. One failed due to a mechanical issue, not their math or positioning.
Hinders was in 57 countries during his time as a serviceman. He was honorably discharged with a rank of E-6 serving from 1999-2018.
DEAN GERBERDING
Veteran Dean Gerberding of Exeter graduated from Geneva High School in 1978 and finished his enlistment process into the Army. He had entered the Delayed Entry program that the military offered at the time.
Gerberding went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for basic training and AIT at Fort Lee, Virg. He was trained as a Material Supply Specialist and was responsible for material supply, warehousing, shipping, invoicing and inventory control.
Following AIT graduation he was stationed at the 101st Airborne A Troop 2nd Battalion/17th Air Calvary as a helicopter parts person. He transferred to the Recon Scouts for part of his stay and was privileged enough to have transferred to the 101st National Color Guard Team. They did General Westmorland’s birthday celebration, a former commander of the 101st.
In December of 1979 Gerberding received orders to go to Germany and headed there in January of 1980 where he was stationed in Nekarsulm, Germany home to the Third Battalion/84th Field Artillery Pershing Missile Unit.
They rotated duty with other batteries in the unit at the Combat Alert Site. He would spend 13 weeks in a live fire type situation in a controlled area. Unfortunately that did not allow for a lot of sightseeing in Germany.
In May of 1981 Gerberding was honorably discharged from the Army and returned home. In 1983 he joined the Army National Guard for three years and was discharged in 1986 as a Specialist 4MOS76D US Army Material Supply Specialist.
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