By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Jonathan Villada stood quietly Saturday morning while a Quilt of Valor was draped over his shoulders to symbolically comfort him from the horrors of war.
“They’re quilted with love as a thank you,” Debbie Conrad, a representative of the South Jersey Quilts of Valor Foundation, explained of the importance of the quilts that are given to U.S. military veterans in honor of their service to the country.
The presentation of a Quilt of Honor to Villada was a poignant moment during Sea Isle City’s Veterans Day ceremony attended by hundreds of community members at Veterans Park on a crisp autumn morning.
Villada, joined at the ceremony by his wife, Lynn, his parents and other family members, is a veteran of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division. His service included a nine-month deployment in war-torn Iraq in 2016. He is currently a sergeant in the Army Reserves.
It was announced ahead of time that Villada would receive the Quilt of Valor, but it was a total surprise to him what came next. Mayor Leonard Desiderio and Police Chief Anthony Garreffi told Villada for the first time that he is being hired as a full-time officer with the Sea Isle City Police Department after spending five summers as a seasonal officer. The crowd erupted in cheers.
“You will never forget 11-11,” Desiderio told Villada, referring to the date Nov. 11.
After the ceremony, the 30-year-old Villada expressed his gratitude to the community where he lives and will now help keep safe as a full-time police officer.
“I wouldn’t have chosen any other place to serve. I’m very thankful to the community for all of its support,” he said in an interview.
Each year at Sea Isle’s Veterans Day ceremony, the Quilts of Valor Foundation honors veterans both young and old with hand-stitched quilts that are given to service men and women who have been “touched by war.”
“To us, quilts mean healing,” Conrad said before she was joined by Commander Joe McLenaghan, of Sea Isle’s VFW Post 1963, and Peggy Moore, the president of Post 1963’s Auxiliary, to wrap the Quilt of Valor around Villada’s shoulders.
The Veterans Day ceremony, which included prayers, speeches, patriotic songs and the laying of wreaths, began when Mayor Desiderio asked all of the veterans sitting in the audience to stand or wave so they could be recognized by the crowd. They were greeted with cheers and applause.
“Remember, there is no America without the veterans,” Desiderio told the audience of the military’s role in defending and preserving the country’s freedoms.
In keynote remarks, Desiderio called veterans the nation’s “real MVPs” – an acronym for the Most Valuable Patriots.
“They continue to represent the very best our country has to offer,” he said.
Sadly, both Desiderio and McLenaghan touched on the tragedies often faced by veterans, including homelessness, substance abuse and suicide. McLenaghan pointed out that the Pentagon has revealed that suicide among veterans has been rising in 2023.
“We, as a society, need to understand that this is a problem we need to address,” he said.
McLenaghan, a Vietnam veteran, noted that organizations such as the VFW stand ready to help and advocate for veterans and their families. Becoming emotional during his remarks, he spoke of how his membership in the VFW and the relationship he has established with other veterans has made him even prouder of his military service.
Moore, the president of the VFW Post 1963 Auxiliary, told the crowd that military service represents the “highest form of service” in the nation.
Cape May County Commissioner Bob Barr, whose late father, Jerry Barr, was a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam, said all Americans should make an effort to thank veterans for their military service, even if it is just a simple gesture.
Barr said veterans epitomize the concept of “American exceptionalism.”
“If you want to know if America is a great country, you need to look no further than our veterans,” he said at the ceremony.
During his service, Barr’s father was exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical herbicide used by the U.S. military to control the growth of vegetation in the jungles of Vietnam.
Barr believes that his father’s exposure to Agent Orange is the reason why Barr has cerebral palsy, a movement disorder affecting the brain and muscles. Barr uses a wheelchair for his mobility.
When his father attended a reunion of his fellow Vietnam veterans about 20 years ago, he found out that of the 20 veterans who were there, 19 of them had children who have cerebral palsy, Barr said.
“I don’t think that’s an accident,” Barr said of the suspected link between Agent Orange and cerebral palsy.
Barr proudly told the crowd that, through his father, “I carry a little bit of veterans with me – and it means so much to me.”
Cape May County Clerk Rita M. Rothberg, another speaker during the ceremony, said that veterans have played a pivotal role in securing the nation’s liberties, including the right to vote. She pointed to the country’s free and democratic elections as an example.
Rothberg concluded her remarks by reading the poem “Freedom Is Not Free,” a tribute that serves as a powerful reminder of the war deaths of so many U.S. veterans over the course of history.
“I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea … Of unmarked graves in Arlington. No, Freedom isn’t free!” Rothberg said while reading the poem’s closing line.
