This quilt, created by Marine Comfort Quilts, memorializes Lcpl. Brian A. Escalante, who was killed-in-action in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Jan Lang founded Marine Comfort Quilts in 2003 following her Marine son’s close brush with death during an attack in Iraq. Not a quiltmaker, she determined to make quilts for the 18 families whose sons were killed in the attack. She recruited Marine mothers from a nationwide online support group to contribute simple blocks expressing sympathy, honor, and comfort. After this first effort, the women agreed to make quilts for the next-of-kin of all American service members killed in Iraq. The group grew, developed an online group to facilitate communication, and presented over 4000 quilts. Courtesy of Marine Comfort Quilts