Quilt of Valor meaningful to retired Pomeroy U.S. Army officer
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Jack Morrow, pictured left with his dad, J. D. Morrow, received his Quilt of Valor in December. The Ohio Star-featured quilt, designed by Nancy Cann, was made and presented by Alice Gwinn of Pomeroy.
POMEROY–Jack Morrow enlisted in the United States Army on February 17, 1998, attending basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. After completion of advanced individual training, he was assigned to A Co, 94th Engineer Battalion, in Hohenfels, Germany. During this assignment, he deployed to North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo before accepting an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Upon graduation, Jack was commissioned as an Engineer officer and again stationed in Germany, this time in Giessen with B Co, 16th Engineer Battalion (Armored). On this assignment, Jack led a sapper platoon conducting roadside bomb removal and explosive building demolition missions in Iraq. After attending graduate school at Princeton University, Jack returned to Iraq as a combat advisor before moving to Afghanistan to serve as an Aide de Camp for a U.S. Army Brigadier General.
Jack later deployed to Afghanistan again as the commander of the 693rd Engineer Company (Sapper) out of Fort Drum, New York, where he led roadside bomb removal missions. As a Major, Jack taught political science in the Department of Social Sciences at the West Point from 2013-17. He deployed to Qatar to serve as a brigade level operations officer and returned to West Point to serve as an assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership from 2018 until he retired on February 1, 2022.
He deployed five times over his twenty years of service. His awards include the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart. Morrow is authorized to wear the Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge, and the German Parachutist Badge.
Jack was awarded his Quilt of Valor during his return to Pomeroy to attend his grandmother Barbara Burt's funeral. When Alice Gwinn spoke of the Quilts of Valor's healing potential, he tearfully mentioned one of his best friends who serviced in Iraq with him, committed suicide two weeks earlier. Five of his group has done the same. "This is why I do what I do," said Gwinn.
The Quilt of Valor Foundation was started by Catherine Roberts in 2003 after her son was deployed to Iraq. The vision of this now nationally recognized organization out of a dream which showed a young soldier sitting on his bed exuding disappear. Then, with a quilt wrapped around him, his mood changed, healing him emotionally. Through the expression of this dream, volunteers began making quilts for active military service members to wrap them in our appreciation for their dedication and sacrifice for our Country and its citizenry. Since 2003, and over 350,000 quilts have been sewn by volunteers and given to service members and retired veterans.
Morrow's father, J.D Morrow, an enlisted Navy man, received his Quilt of Valor, made by Cindy Klaveano and Alice Gwinn, on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2022.
