Tines honored with Quilt of Valor

William “Dude” Tines of Grant was surprised by his family during their Christmas celebration Saturday, Dec. 19 when they presented him with his very own Quilt of Valor.

Tines, 72, joined the Navy in the fall of 1966, and attended boot camp in San Diego, California. He then went to gunner’s mate school in Chicago before heading to Long Beach, California.

He got on a destroyer and from there they traveled to Vietnam. Tines believes he had three or four tours of duty in Vietnam.

During his service, Tines was in charge of a crew that ran a missile system.

Tines’ rank upon leaving the service in the fall of 1972 was rank E4, a Petty Officer 3rd Class.

He received one Bronze Star for his service, which is a United States decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone.

Though Tines said his time in the service was fairly uneventful, other than the mining of Haiphong Harbor in 1972, during his last year in the Navy.

He noted that while with the Navy, he was able to travel to several different regions, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and even Australia.

Luckily for Tines, he said he didn’t see any of the big spiders or snakes he’s seen on nature shows while he was in Australia!

“They have some big critters down there, but I’ve never seen any of them,” Tines said. “Kangaroos are about all I saw when we were down there.”

After his service, Tines lived in Venango for around 22 years where he worked as a farmer. He and his wife Alice have been living in Grant for the last six years now, he estimated.

This year for Christmas, Alice worked together with her family and the women responsible for crafting the quilt, Donna Burge and Susan Hanson, to surprise her husband with his very own Quilt of Valor.

Tines and his wife, along with his children and grandchildren, were all together for the holiday, so Alice thought it would be a perfect time to give him his quilt.

“Our family was celebrating Christmas Saturday, and we were all done wrapping gifts and Donna showed up around seven o’clock at night,” Tines said. “I had no clue that I was even in line to get it, so I was really surprised and honored.”

“I really thank the ladies that take the time and effort to make these quilts for us veterans,” he added.

According to Tines, Burge told him they want veterans to use the quilts, so he plans to wrap up in it when watching television in his EasyChair.

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