Brantley, Alabama, residents visited Eufaula recently with the Brantley Rural Club to present Ken and Juanita Hunt a quilt sewn in honor of their son Master Sergeant Kenneth Hunt, Jr., USMC who died October 12, 2005. The Marine died from combat injuries sustained July 24, 2005, in Al Taqaddum, Iraq.

Eva Ray Adkison and Ann Holland, members of the Brantley Rural Club, presented the quilt. The quilt presentation to the Hunts is part of the national “Home of the Brave Quilt Project.” The quilt is a reproduction of one sewn during the U.S. Civil War.

While 250,000 were reportedly sewn during the Civil War and presented to the families of soldiers who died in combat, only five are known to have survived, and just one is on public display.

The “Home of The Brave Quilt Project” was founded by Don Beld of California and has spread across the country with Jo Reid of Scottsboro serving as the project coordinator in Alabama. “Each quilt is a gift of love from the hearts of quilter,” Reid stated in an earlier release. “Every quilt is made from the same pattern but different fabrics. It is an honor to sew these quilts in honor of our fallen heroes.”

Each square of the quilt presented to the Hunts was crafted by a member of the Brantley Rural Club. The quilt also bears a patch commemorating the service of MSGT Hunt.

Juanita and Kenneth Hunt own Juanita’s Antiques and Frame Shop in Eufaula. They said their son was ready to retire from the Marine Corps but agreed to return to Iraq for another tour when his replacement was injured. MSgt Hunt died just 10 days before he was scheduled to leave the country. MSgt. Hunt was deployed to Iraq from Brooks Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.