This past weekend three area veterans, Bruce Scott, Mark Harstad and Ted Lysdal were awarded ‘quilts of valor’ by the local organization Three of a Kind during their annual fundraiser.

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.

Clearwater resident Bruce Scott was an army MP stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado from 1972 to 1974. He’s been a member of the Clearwater American Legion ever since.

“I joined to be active in the community and be helpful to veterans,” he said. “There are so many homeless vets that need help.”

Scott has held every office in the Clearwater Legion, belonged to the firing squad for a number of years, and has also been district membership director, district Americanism chairman and district vice president.

Scott, who also ran the Legion fish fries and cooked during their Sunday breakfasts, didn’t know what was going on at first when he heard he was being awarded a quilt.

“It’s nice to be chosen and thought of from the community you serve,” he said.

Mark Harstad, who grew up in Annandale and now lives in Buffalo, has served in all four branches of the military over the years.

He went into the Lakeland Airforce Academy at 17 years old in 1989, right out of high school. After receiving a minor injury during boot camp that prevented him from continuing, he joined the navy as a hospital corps man and was stationed in Japan. He later was in marine naval special operations all over the world. 

After nine years Harstad decided to try civilian life but found he couldn’t stand it, so in 1998 he started his third basic training, this time in the army. He was first stationed in Ft. Benning, then joined the GA 25th infantry scout platoon in Hawaii.

He retired from service four years later having received numerous injuries over the years and undergoing three knee surgeries. At one point, he hadn’t been on American soil for five years.

Today he is a disabled vet and works at the Minneapolis VA Hospital as a registered nurse.

“I don’t think I deserve it,” he said of being awarded a Quilt of Valor. “I think our loved ones back home deserve it. They went through a lot more than I did.”

Even so, Harstad is honored to have been recognized, and said he was going to put the quilt in a shadow box on his wall so it won’t get worn out.

Ted Lysdal was awarded his quilt by his grandsons, Lance and Lane. They told the audience the story of their grandfather’s years of service, starting with him joining the army in 1966, spending one year in Vietnam, one year in Germany, and then being discharged in 1969.

Three of a Kind is a nonprofit organization that was started by Shawn Thomas after three of his friends, Matt Steffens, Jeff Colbenson and Brett Johnson, each passed away unexpectedly. The organization sponsors a motorcycle ride each year to raise money in their memory.

Thomas became involved with the Clearwater Legion Riders, who help with the fundraiser. The money raised goes to a variety of causes, which include scholarships for Monticello High School students, which is where his friends had gone to school, and Eagle’s Healing Nest, a refuge for veterans who are looking for help to get their lives back together.