Version 6.01

01 April 2024

David March © 2019

INTRODUCTION

Disclaimers

The Red Cross emblem is a protective symbol used during armed conflicts and its use is protected by international law. We wish to thank the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and the British Red Cross Society for authorisation to include on the website the images of this quilt bearing the emblem and the words "Red Cross".

We are not affiliated to any Red Cross or Red Crescent Movement nor to any quilt society or group; nor are we affiliated to the Imperial War Museum.

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David March - October 2019

Quilt made by the Pungoteague branch of the Eastern Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1918 for the Virginia Room in the Anglo American Hospital at Wimereux, France.

I first saw this quilt at the Imperial War Museum in London in May 2012. My wife and I had been researching signature quilts made in Canada during the First and Second World Wars. Two quilts in particular owned by the IWM had caught our attention. On this occasion, Maeve Underwood, the curator had also chosen to show us a signature quilt made during WWI by the American Red Cross.

The quilt was made in Pungoteague, Virginia, USA in 1918. As well as several hundred names, the quilt also included panels describing the reason for making it and its intended recipients. Mrs S K Martin was named on the quilt as the maker, D G Agathoin wrote the names on the quilt with a marker pen and the Virginia Room in the Anglo American Hospital at Wimereux, France was its destination.

Several years later in 2016, I returned to the museum to photograph the quilt in detail and then began to unravel its history. The website describes the location of Pungoteague, its people during WWI and the family histories of those named on the quilt.