Retired U.S. Army Spc. Gunter Anger, shown here with his wife Rita, was presented with a Quilt of Valor by St. Joseph Hospital on Nov. 13. Courtesy photo/St. Joseph Hospital

NASHUA – Fifty-four years after returning home from the jungles of Vietnam, retired U.S. Army Spc. Gunter Anger was selected by St. Joseph Hospital to receive the Quilt of Valor for his unflappable bravery.

According to his wife Rita, Anger enlisted in the Army when he was 21 years old. At the time, his stepfather had just returned home from Vietnam when he received orders to go back. However, Anger volunteered to take his place.

From April 1968 until December 1969, Anger was a gunner with the 336th Assault Helicopter Squadron in the First Aviation Brigade. Serving two tours of duty, Anger was engaged in the pivotal Tet Offensive and miraculously survived being shot down 19 times. As a result, he was awarded the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the National Defense Medal.

Hospital spokesperson Timothy McMahon said nominations for the Quilt of Valor were reviewed by a group of employees who sit on the hospital’s Veterans Council.

“We felt like Gunter’s story of serving in Vietnam, being shot down multiple times, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to this day and coming home to a country with little to no fanfare was really powerful,” he said.

The Quilt of Valor Foundation was founded in 2003 by Catherine Roberts whose son Nat served in Iraq. Traumatized by the atrocities of war, Nat only found solace by wrapping himself in a quilt.

Donna Swanson, the foundation’s New Hampshire coordinator, said more than 360,000 Quilts of Valor have been awarded during the past 20 years.

“We believe that the quilts we make offer both comfort and healing,” she said.

According to the foundation’s website, a Quilt of Valor can be awarded to any veteran who has been “touched by war.” This includes: “engaging in direct combat, no matter when or where, in declared or undeclared wars or conflicts; being wounded or injured in training for combat or direct support of combat; serving while in harm’s way delivering support, supplies, etc., to those engaged in preventing conflicts or engaged in battle or combat; caring for the casualties, injured, and ill service members or veterans on the frontlines, in-theater, deployed, or in hospitals and medical centers overseas or stateside; providing casualty assistance to families of the fallen, escorting the fallen or remains, and/or participating in honor guards; being there to listen, to minister, and to support others struggling with the demons of being in a war zone.”