Veteran meets Peters woman who knits blankets for vets
Jean Macik of Peters Township talks with George Yates as they look over the blankets that she gave to him at her home.
Jean Macik looks through her late husband Fred’s World War II scrapbook at her home.
George Yates of Canonsburg speaks with Jean Macik of Peters Township about World War II. They met after she gave him a blanket to thank him for his military service.
In the foyer of her Peters Township home, Jean Macik, all of 4 feet, 10 inches tall, reached up to return a hug from George Yates, a 90-year-old World War II veteran whom Macik had never met until that day.
But the two share a connection.
Macik, 87, makes patriotic quilts for veterans, and at a Veterans Day ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, Macik’s daughter, Iris Doverspike of Lawrence, presented Yates with one of 10 blankets that she distributed randomly.
Macik, who was recovering from a procedure to treat macular degeneration, sat in Doverspike’s car while her daughter handed out all of the blankets and thanked the veterans for their service.
So touched was Yates by Macik’s thoughtfulness that he wanted to thank her personally.
“We were sitting in the amphitheater and a young lady came over carrying a package. She opened it up and there was a blanket, red, white and blue with American flags and eagles,” recalled Yates, a retired banker and U.S. Army veteran who was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart during the war. “I said, ‘You don’t need to give me this,’ and she said that’s what her mother wanted. I really wanted to meet the woman who made it. The blanket is simply outstanding.
“You know, with all the problems we have in this country right now, this lady deserves recognition for her patriotism. Her generosity toward veterans is commendable.”
Macik said she began stitching the blankets in 2012, after her husband, Fred Macik, a U.S. Army veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, died. They had been married for 62 years.
She was familiar with the national Quilts of Honor and Quilts of Valor organizations, but decided to make and distribute her blankets locally, on her own.
“It keeps my hands busy. While I’m doing all of those steps required to complete a quilt, I don’t have time to worry about myself or get sad. I’m thinking about somebody else,” said Macik.
Macik has distributed more than 25 blankets to veterans since she started making them.
Each pattern is different and Macik includes a handwritten note, thanking veterans for their service, in some of the quilts.
She recently completed a quilt for her nephew, a Vietnam War veteran, that included black and white photographs taken during his tour of duty, and is getting requests for blankets.
Macik met her husband, a coal miner for Consol, after he returned from World War II, and for more than 40 years, he remained silent about the war or his military service.
In 1989, however, the couple traveled to Waco, Texas, for a reunion with the soldiers Fred served with, and after they returned, Fred spoke about his experiences often.
Fred Macik was an anti-aircraft gunner with the 601st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battery D. He kept inventory of the ammunition and supervised 10 men in the storing and stacking of ammunition.
His unit was the first American anti-aircraft artillery gun battalion to fire on German V-1 buzz bombs in defense of England and later Paris. It was part of Antwerp X, a coalition of anti-aircraft artillerymen from three nations which defended the port of Antwerp against the V-1s.
Fred and the other artillerymen, fighting day and night, were responsible for shooting the V-1s out of the sky before they reached their targets, and the Allied artillerymen are credited with shooting down 2,183 bombs.
It turns out that Antwerp X was critical to the final outcome of the war, and on Dec. 17, 1946, Macik’s unit received the Order of the Day from the Belgian Army. He also was presented with the Belgian Fourragere, an honor cord.
“He was a real hero,” said Macik.
Yates also saw combat, and he shared his experiences with Macik during their meeting, breaking down in tears as he recalled the loss of his brother, Joseph Yates, who was killed in action Nov. 11, 1943, while flying a mission over Germany.
Yates was awarded the Silver Star for his actions on March 29, 1945, in Cebu, Philippine Islands, during an advance along a heavily mined road.
He was a member of a group providing security for a group of mine detector operators and demolition men who were locating and disarming mines in front of a column of tanks.
Soon after the advance began, enemy crossfire killed two men and seriously wounded three others. It was impossible for the tanks to move forward without crushing the wounded and dead men, so Yates and another member of the squad crawled under the crossfire to the wounded men and dragged them from the path of the tanks. They went back and moved the dead soldiers to the side of the road, and the tanks rolled forward to neutralize the enemy.
Later that day, Yates was wounded in a bomb blast and was flown to Latay, Philippines, where he spent seven weeks in a military hospital recovering from his injuries.
He was 20 years old.
Macik said she is surprised at the response she’s gotten from the World War II veterans who receive the blankets.
“One man came up to me and said he loved his blanket, would I mind if he took it to Ohio to give to a serviceman who was returning from Afghanistan,” Macik said. “I told him I didn’t mind, he can do what he wants with his blanket. I wished I had another one with me to give to him.”
She’s not sure why veterans like the blankets so much.
But maybe it’s because those World War II veterans, like Fred Macik and George Yates, left home as young men, helped save the world on their way to becoming part of the Greatest Generation, and then came home to raise their families.
A little thank you, in the form of a quilt, is much appreciated.