Air Force veteran Kevin Dale Hensley (second from left) receives the 2025 veteran quilt from Downriver Quilters Linda Segedy (left) of Southgate and Debbie Krauss of Grosse Ile Township as Trenton Mayor Steven Rzeppa watches.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
TRENTON – Disabled retired Air Force veteran Kevin Dale Hensley was honored July 7 with the 2025 Veteran Quilt by the Downriver Quilters.
Hensley, who served 20 years in the Air Force, from 1995 to 2015 as a tech sergeant, acquired constrictive bronchiolitis, a terminal lung disease through his exposure to open air burn pits while serving as a guard at overseas military bases.
He served in Azraq, Jordan in 1996; Saudi Arabia in 1998; Jacobabad, Pakistan in 2003; Kirkuk, Iraq in 2006; Balad, Iraq in 2008; Thumrait, Oman in 2010, al-Jaber, Kuwait in 2011 and 2012; and in Shindand, Afghanistan in 2013.
Presenting the patriotic red, white and blue patterned quilt were Downriver Quilters Linda Segedy of Southgate and Debbie Krauss of Grosse Ile Township.
The quilting group seeks to create quilts that will bring comfort and joy to deserving veterans, who throughout their deployments are away from their families while in harm’s way.
While Hensley undergoes treatment for his bronchiolitis, he works toward better legislation for veterans who suffer from the invisible wounds of war.