Lincoln WWII Navy veteran receives special gift at CHI Health

Victor Brehm served in the Navy for four years. 

He’s had a short stint in the hospital at CHI Health, and while he is there, on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, he was given a special quilt. 

Victor Brehm enlisted in the Navy is 1942 and served until 1945. The day after he enlisted, he got a letter to be drafted.

“I’m glad the Navy took me,” Victor Brehm, WWII veteran, said. 

Brehm was in the European theater, where he was part of invasions in Africa and Italy. He was a on a ship that carried the army to different places where they would storm the beaches and invade countries. He then went on leave for 30 days.

“When I came home, I got married and it was a different life all together,” he said. 

After his 30 days were up, he was redeployed to Japan. He was in Okinawa on D-Day where there was an air raid. 

CHI Health volunteers make quilts for most holidays, so they made a patriotic one, and coincidentally, Victor was in the hospital recovering from a broken hip, so on the 75th anniversary of D-Day a fellow Navy vet, who is also a nurse at CHI, delivered the blanket to him. 

“When I heard he was in the Navy this morning I thought wow I think I need to go give this to him because when you know what it means to serve and you know the sacrifices that you make, it makes it very important to be a part of these types of activities,” Tim Plante, Vice President of Patient Care Services, said. 

Plante said that is you talk to most veterans, they’ll tell you it’s a brotherhood being in the military. 

He said he learns a lot from the veterans who come to CHI Health, so it was really special to have Brehm there on Thursday. 

“I’ve learned the patriotism is a life long thing and when we saw him get all teary in there… what a dedicated man. What a man who loves his country… I think that’s a lesson for all of us.” Plante said.