All are local veterans who served their country in diverse ways.

And all were among the eight veterans honored Saturday with the comforting gift of a Quilt of Valor made and presented by members of the Fort Dodge Area Quilters Club.

The honored veterans were Paul Feld, of Rockwell City; Marvin Kuebler, of Rockwell City; Joyce Lennon, of Fort Dodge; Larry Vosberg, of Fort Dodge; Seth Dencklau, of Humboldt; Delbert Smith, of Fort Dodge; Craig Hansen; of Dayton; and Dave London, of Fort Dodge.

The quilts were presented Saturday afternoon at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1856 in Fort Dodge.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
U.S. Navy veteran Marvin Kuebler is wrapped in a Quilt of Valor Saturday afternoon at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1856 in Fort Dodge. Lynette Nielsen, left, of the Fort Dodge Area Quilters Club, reads a summary of Kuebler’s military service while Janet McKinney, right, helps with the quilt.

“I feel that we cannot praise our veterans enough,” said Mary Almond, of the Quilters Club. “This is just our way of thanking the veterans for what they did.”

“Our recipients today know what the true meaning of valor is,” added Diane Bacon, of the Quilters Club.

Each of the honored veterans was called forward Saturday, and two members of the club draped their quilt over the veterans’ shoulders as a third member read a summary of their military service.

Paul Feld

Feld graduated from Rockwell City Community School in 1966. In February 1968, he was drafted into the Army.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
U.S. Army Reserve veteran Joyce Lennon admires the Quilt of Valor she received Saturday while Jean Warg of the Fort Dodge Area Quilters Club reads a summary of her military service.

He completed basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas, and advanced individual training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. He then became a member of the 25th Infantry Division in South Vietnam. He was wounded in an ambush.

He was sent back to the United States to Irwin Army Hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas. He was there for about a year before being discharged from the Army in September 1969.

He worked for the United States Postal Service for 35 years before retiring in 2009.

Marvin Kuebler

He graduated from Scranton Consolidated School in Scranton in 1979, then joined the Navy. He served on the USS Flint, an ammunition supply ship.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
U.S. Army veteran Larry Vosberg smiles as members of the Fort Dodge Area Quilters Club wrap him in a Quilt of Valor Saturday at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1856.

He was discharged in 1993 with the rank of petty officer second class.

He worked for Americold and National Gypsum before retiring in 2022.

Joyce Lennon

Lennon graduated from Fayette High School and then attended Upper Iowa University. She graduated from the school with a bachelor’s degree and an Army commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

She completed officer basic and advanced training at Fort Gordon, Georgia.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Seth Dencklau, an Army veteran from Humboldt, stands wrapped in a Quilt of Valor Saturday afternoon as Diane Bacon, left, of the Fort Dodge Area Quilters Club, describes his military service.

She was assigned to the Army Reserve and was part of the 404th Signal Co. in Waterloo from 1979 to 1984. She then went to the 394th Ordnance Battalion in Ames, where she served from 1984 to 1988. In 1991, she graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

She was promoted to captain and spent much time mentoring and training junior officers and cadets. She was discharged in 1994.

She is a member of Gowrie American Legion Post 461.

Last year, she and her husband, Rich Lennon, were named Veterans of the Year by the Fort Dodge Veterans Council.

Larry Vosberg

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Delbert Smith, a Navy veteran from Fort Dodge, listens as Roni Rork reads a summary of his military career. The Quilt of Valor behind him was soon wrapped around his shoulders.

Vosberg graduated from Manson High School in 1961. He served in the Army from 1961 to 1964.

He worked as a radar operator at a Nike Hercules missile battery in Alaska. The Nike Hercules missile was a surface to air weapon that could be used to shoot down Soviet bombers.

Vosberg worked many joint missions with the airmen at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska.

After his military service, he worked for 37 years at the Farmland Industries ammonia plant near Duncombe.

Seth Dencklau

Dencklau joined the Army in 2007 and completed basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division.

He deployed to Afghanistan where he was severely wounded. He endured 17 surgeries.

He was discharged in 2011.

Dencklau now works with organizations that take disabled veterans hunting and fishing.

Delbert Smith

Smith served in the Navy from 1970 to 1973.

He completed boot camp at San Diego, California, then went to aviation mechanical school in Memphis, Tennessee.

Smith was assigned to Naval Air Station Alameda in California, where he worked on ejection seats and fighter plane oxygen systems. He was also a member of a helicopter rescue team.

Craig Hansen

Hansen grew up on a farm south of Dayton and graduated from Dayton Community School in 1964. He was drafted into the Army in October 1965.

He completed basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and advanced individual training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. He then served in South Vietnam.

Dave London

London has the most diverse service resume of any of the veterans honored Saturday. He served in the Marine Corps, Tennessee Army National Guard, Iowa Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. He deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1982.

As a Marine, he served at bases in South Carolina, North Carolina, California, the Pacific Ocean island of Okinawa, and Arizona. He was also on the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Ocean.

During his service, he went to South Korea three times, and Germany once.

He finished his military career by retiring from the Army Reserve in 2005 with the rank of sergeant first class.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Craig Hansen, an Army veteran from Dayton, stands with a Quilt of Valor wrapped around him Saturday afternoon at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1856.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Dave London, a veteran of the Marine Corps, National Guard and Army Reserve, listens as Linda Mersh reads a summary of his military service during a Quilt of Valor presentation Saturday at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1856 in Fort Dodge.