Deployed Soldier sews for charity

***image1***TIKRIT, Iraq – It’s not every day that downrange Soldiers can use their hobby skills to help a worthy cause, but one V Corps Soldier has found a way.

Sgt. Nicole S. Smith, assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the corps’ 121st Signal Battalion from Larson Barracks in Kitzingen, Germany, made a quilt while in Iraq that will be auctioned to raise money for the 1st Infantry Division Foundation. The proceeds will fund scholarships for children of Soldiers killed in the line of duty.

“I had planned on making a quilt since before I came to Iraq,” said Sergeant Smith. “I wanted this to be a piece of history and something different; something a Soldier made.”

The quilt is made up of more than 100 squares, embroidered with the units who have served with the division in the second iteration of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Many of the blocks are signed by division general officers and other senior leaders, while the back side is a sheet that has been signed by deployed Soldiers, said Sergeant Smith.

While she made most of the quilt herself, she did receive help from her mother who mailed the fabric, from Soldiers who donated patches and from several Iraqis who embroidered the names of units on the quilt.

“I didn’t expect to get so much support from other Soldiers,” Smith said.

Smith says she is happy to devote her free time to a worthy cause.
“I hope it brings enough money to make a sizeable donation,” she said.

The 1st Infantry Division Memorial Quilt is being offered for auction on E-bay now as number 2278625815.
(Courtesy 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs Office)