Clearwater area veterans Ron Lashinski, Arnie Searcy, and Mike Hanson were awarded Quilts of Valor during Three of a Kind’s annual fundraiser for Eagles Healing Nest in Sauk Centre in July.

Quilts of Valor Foundation is a nation-wide nonprofit organization whose mission is to “Cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.” The quilts are handmade by volunteers to thank them for their “service, sacrifice, and valor.” 

Each quilt includes the names of the people who quilted it along with the poem, “May this quilt keep you safe from harm, may it be your good luck charm, I do not know your name, nor the mountains you face, but what you hold in your arms, is a quilter’s embrace.”

Along with the quilt, recipients are given a handwritten card explaining where their quilt came from and thanking them for their service.

Ron Lashinski

Ron Lashinski served in the Marine Corps from 1971 to 1975. He enlisted at 17, feeling a duty to serve and ready to spread his wings away from the family dairy farm in Flensburg, MN. He attended boot camp in San Diego and then went to Camp Pendleton before being sent to Vietnam for eight months.

“It was a sticker shock,” he said. “All of a sudden I was thrown in with people from all cultures, races, and ethnicities. I met people from all over and had to learn things fast.”

In Vietnam, Lashinski was part of a Combined Action Platoon, which included a company of Vietnamese, and patrolled villages in the northern province of Quang Tri. He served there for eight months before being sent to the Philippines, then Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and finally Okinawa, Japan before flying home.

“I saw a lot of places the average person won’t ever see,” he said.

He left the service a corporal and with a number of ribbons and citations, including the National Defense Service Medal Ribbon, Meritorious Unit Citation, Good Conduct Medal Ribbon, Vietnam Service Medal Ribbon, and RVN Campaign Medal Ribbon.

After his service, Lashinski worked at Landry Packing in St. Cloud for three years before going to work at the Sherco power plant in Becker, which he retired from after 33 years.

“I was totally taken by surprise, which usually doesn’t happen,” said Lashinski when asked about being awarded a Quilt of Valor. “I would encourage people to consider joining the service because it offers some good benefits, including education and health care, and it’s an opportunity to see the world.”

Lashinski is a member of the VFW, the DAV, and a 40-year member of the American Legion, where he is currently serving as commander. Living in the Clearwater area since 1979, he and his wife, Judy, have eight children.

Arnold Searcy

Arnold ‘Arnie’ Searcy joined the army when he was 17 and served from 1960 to 1963. Growing up in North Dakota, his parents moved to Idaho for two years before coming back to Minot. By that time all of Searcy’s friends had moved away, so he decided to join the service because he was bored.

He was sent to Germany as part of the 24th Engineer Group, where he first joined the rifle team before spending two years as a chauffer driving. He found driving on the autobahn to be a terrible experience, so after he had his first accident he was transferred to another division and sent to France. He was only there a few months before General Charles de Gaulle kicked all service personnel out of the country, so he was sent back to Germany to finish out his service.

While in Germany Searcy met his future wife, Renate, during Octoberfest. She could barely speak any English, and he could only speak a little bit of German, but he managed to talk her into marrying him and moving to the United States.

“It took some doing,” he said. “I asked her three times before she agreed.”

They were married by German law on June 21, 1963, and by American law the next day at Ramstein Air Base.

Back in the states, Searcy worked for a farmer near Alexandria for a few months before moving to Minot and starting work in construction. He used the GI Bill to attend auto mechanic school and become a wheel alignment specialist, which he worked as from 1966 to 1995.

In 1969 he was working at the Ford Dealership in Minot, ND, when his youngest son was born with a heart defect and had to be treated at the U of M every three months, so the family, which included five children, moved to St. Cloud. In 1980 they moved to Clearwater where they lived for 38 years. He and Renate moved back to St. Cloud two years ago.

Searcy continued working as a wheel alignment specialist, working for Sears, JCPenney’s, and Peters Body Shop before he retired.

“My daughter-in-law told me she wanted me at there, [Three of a Kind fundraiser]” said Searcy when asked about being awarded a Quilt of Valor. “I knew she had something up her sleeve, but I didn’t know what. It was a real surprise.”

He recommends anyone thinking about joining the service do so.

“It’s a tremendous experience,” he said. “I learned a lot there and it helped me when I got out. I enjoyed every moment of it.”

Mike Hanson

Mike Hanson was not available for an interview.