September 28, 2017
L to R: Peggy Westfield, Maureen Peecha, Willy O’Connell, Teresa Hurley, Kate Eby.
WWII veteran and Dorchester native William F. O’Connell, 93, was presented with a Quilt of Valor in a small ceremony hosted by his close friends and family in Cadigan Hall at Boston College High School this summer.
O’Connell visited his granddaughter’s Social Studies classroom at Mary K. Lyon Pilot High School in Brighton to speak about his time in the war.
His daughter, Peggy Westfield, posted pictures of him discussing his experiences with the students, and they earned the attention of close family friend, Jackie Curll and her partner, Barbara Steers, who is also an Army veteran.
They approached Westfield with the idea of gifting him the quilt and she loved the idea of honoring her father and his service.
“We decided on a small gathering with coffee, tea and desserts. [Steers] chose the nautical theme [sewn on the quilt] because [O’Connell] was in the Navy. He was on the U.S.S. Baltimore in the Pacific during WWII,” said Westfield. “My oldest son, Tim, is a math teacher at [BC High] and we told dad that Tim was receiving an award. [O’Connell] was so shocked when I announced that the gathering was for him to celebrate his service to our country.”
Started by a quilter named Catherine Roberts in 2003, the Quilt of Valor is meant to comfort, heal and honor service members and veterans who have been touched by war.
“[O’Connell] was a seaman first class, gun captain center gun turret two on the U.S.S. Baltimore. He was in Okinawa and Iwo Jima. He was on the Baltimore when Roosevelt met with General MacArthur and General Nimitz aboard the ship. He was part of the crew who took Roosevelt to Juneau, Alaska,” says Westfield. “He is a ‘plank owner’ which signifies that he was on the original crew of the Baltimore, built in the Quincy shipyard. He trained in Newport, RI and is a ‘shellback’, a person who crossed the equator with his ship.”
The quilt is now displayed in O’Connell’s living room at his residence on East Cottage Street in Dorchester. He is a proud father of four daughters and a grandfather to 14 children and 3 great grandchildren.
