In April of last year, the son of Jan Lang of Missouri was serving with the Marines in Iraq. Lang’s son was on his first deployment when it was announced that 12 men from his battalion were missing – only three of those 12 men were found alive and well, families discovered later.

Although Lang went through a great deal, she was lucky to find out her son was one of the lucky three.

After her initial relief passed, she questioned why she was the lucky mother. She often spoke online with a Yahoo! group of service members’ parents to deal with her son’s absence.

One day she saw a posting from another mom discussing the idea to make quilts for families who lost family members in the war. Lang decided she wanted to help; in fact she wanted to help so much she decided a quilt should be made for every family. From that dream, www.Marine

ComfortQuilts.us was born.

More than a year later, the group is spreading across the country, as well as through the military. Quilts are now being made for the Navy, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard as well.

“I just feel it’s really important that these families know that America cares,” Lang said.

Lang said that as a military mother, her heart went out to all of the families who lost loved ones.

“You want these families to know your heart is breaking for them,” she said.

Lang said she believed it was important also not to let a Vietnam War-scenario happen again. Most of the parents of the soldiers in Iraq were part of the Vietnam generation and saw how the war’s veterans were treated, Lang said, adding that she and other parents were not going to let that happen again.

“This is our way of letting these families know they’re not forgotten,” Lang said.

Since its creation in 2003 the quilting organization has grown to include more states. Ava Tomson of Tolono, Ill., had a son also in Iraq. Tomson spent many sleepless nights during her son’s nine-month absence overseas – the hardest nine months of her life, she said.

“To know your child is in danger puts your entire life on hold because you’re worrying all the time,” she said.

Tomson also sought help from online support groups to get her through the trying times.

Through her searching she found Lang, and Thomson soon started the Army division of the quilting project. She credited the project with helping her get through her son’s service time in Iraq.

Since Tomson joined the group the organization has more than doubled. Tomson, who was originally in charge of the entire Army quilt-making division, had to split up the responsibilities.

At first Tomson pounded the pavement, searching for groups to help. Now through word of mouth, people are coming to her, asking to help. One of these many groups is the Champaign County Home and Community Education group.

President Nancy Benz and her group are making quilts for the Army division of the project. Some of the older group members have grandchildren in Iraq so the project is very relevant to them, Benz said.

Tomson said the project was much more than just making a quilt; people from all over the country make individual squares for a quilt. They sometimes write messages on the squares or embroider them. Then each square is specifically picked for a quilt so that the squares will come from all over the country. Tomson said it was very important that the families knew people from all over the country cared so they could look to it at times of need.

“The families are told to think of it as a group hug,” Tomson said. “When they’re distressed they can wrap it around them and feel the love from all of us.”