'He is a hell of a good fellow': DeLand Vietnam veteran gifted 'Quilt of Valor' as thanks

DELAND — Jackie Miller said the large quilt wrapped around his shoulders felt like hugs from his buddies he lost in the Vietnam War more than five decades ago, and it brought tears to his eyes.

Miller, 77, a U.S. Navy Seabee veteran and a Purple Heart recipient, was surprised by at least 25 of his friends who gathered at his DeLand home on Thursday to witness him receiving the "Quilt of Valor."

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Quilts awarded to living vets

The quilt was handmade and put together by the nonprofit organization Quilts of Valor Foundation of Winterset, Iowa. The organization has awarded more than 300,000 quilts nationwide, said Melvin Rollins, a friend of Miller's and also from DeLand.

Rollins, a retired U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, is a member of Quilts of Valor himself and nominated Miller for the award. Rollins did not serve in Vietnam but trained young Marines who were deployed there.

Rollins, who has been hunting and fishing friends with Miller since their younger days, said he wanted to honor Miller because he has been experiencing poor health recently.

"His health has been failing him to some extent so it was one of those things that we needed do while he is alive," Rollins said. "This so he can appreciate it, and so each day he sees that quilt, he can have a memory of his friends he grew up with."

According to the organization's website, www.qovf.org, the Quilt of Valor is only awarded to living veterans.

"QOVF awards quilts only to service members and living veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces," according to the website.

The organization states its mission is "to cover Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor."

Expression of thanks

The quilt is an expression of thanks for the service of veterans who receive them, according to the website.

Rollins said the surprise ceremony to which Miller's childhood friends were invited, was to let them know of Miller's military service to this country.

"He does not want to be known as a hero among us but nobody knows his military history because he is quiet," Rollins said. "He doesn't talk about it and I thought it's time to bring it out so that the community that has been with him for years knows that he is a Purple Heart recipient, that he was in the Tet Offensive, and how he lost friends."

Miller, fondly known as "Mud Hole" or "Mud" by his friends, served two tours in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968.

The nicknames were a CB radio handle Miller earned in his younger days of hunting. Hunters used CB radio handles so other hunters in the area could know who was present, Miller said.

During his second tour in 1968, Miller was in the middle of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and was part of a 13-man Seabee team. It was during that stretch of duty that he was wounded, Rollins said.

'It was hell'

Miller, whose friends say he is a quiet person and does not like to talk about his Vietnam days, declined to share details of the firefight in which he was wounded.

Some of his close friends at Thursday's ceremony said they didn't even know that Miller had been awarded a Purple Heart.

"It was hell. We had a job to do and we did it," is all Miller would say.

But Rollins, a close friend whom Miller trusts, said his friend was wounded when the truck he was riding in with another U.S. Navy corpsman was attacked just outside Saigon.

"They were in and out of Saigon and one day he and a corpsman were in a three-quarter ton truck coming out of Saigon and rode right into ambush," Rollins shared with friends gathered at Miller's home. "That truck blowed up from under them and they got into a firefight."

Miller was wounded in the gunfight and the corpsman was severely injured and incapacitated, Rollins said.

"And that's where 'Mud' earned the Purple Heart," Rollins said.

'It's a very deserving thing'

Friends who showed up at the surprise ceremony said Miller earned the quilt.

"It was a beautiful presentation," said Ashley Clark, who grew up hunting and fishing with Miller in DeLand. "He is a hell of a good fellow. He already has my respect and he deserves the quilt, a sign of high respect."

Former Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson, now a Volusia County Councilman who attended the event, said very few people knew Miller was a Vietnam veteran, because he never talked about his war days. Johnson said he couldn't miss the event on Thursday because he and Miller have been close friends for 50 years.

"It's a very deserving thing for him," Johnson said. "Most of us didn't know what this was about today and I was glad I was here for that special presentation."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Purple Heart recipient from DeLand, Florida awarded 'Quilt of Valor'