Ansbach High School Army JROTC Quilt of Valor

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Story by: C/PVT Elijah Stanley
Photos by: Mr. McCaskill

Ansbach High School Army JROTC Cadets of the 9th JROTC battalion, Chance Duplessie, Kenton Duplessie, Marlin McCaskill, Marga Marzan, and Martin Mundo presented a Quilt of Valor after Sunday Mass at the Katterbach Chapel on December 3rd, 2023. This quilt was presented to Major (Father) Paul Halladay who was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division from November 2005 to November 2006.

The Quilt of Valor was provided by the “Beach Lovin Quilters of the Carolinas”, and was presented to recognize Major Halladay’s amazing service to our country. He was awarded with the Bronze Star medal for helping wounded Iraqi soldiers under fire after a suicide car bomb exploded 25 yards from where he was celebrating mass, which is a Catholic church service.

He also gave last rites to Petty Officer Second Class Micheal A. Monsoor, who was a member of Navy SEAL Team 3. Monsoor died by doing a heroic action of jumping on a grenade to save his fellow troops’ lives. Major Halladay was also deployed to Afghanistan from June 2012 to March 2013, where he was assigned as the United States Army Deputy Command Chaplain for a NATO training mission.

Major (Father) Paul has been USAG Ansbach’s Deputy Garrison Chaplain since 2020 and will retire in September of 2024. He will retire after serving 20 years in the United States Army.