Woman receives medal for effort on care packages
Rarely does an active-duty unit recognize people outside its family circles with a civilian service medal, especially an Army Special Forces battalion.
On Dec. 27, Judy Hendley broke the trend. She was awarded for her leadership in the long-standing effort by Special Forces Association Chapter 51 Ladies Auxiliary to provide care packages to troops overseas and at Army medical centers.
Command Sgt. Maj. Tommy Harveston from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Airborne, presented Hendley the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service on behalf of Lt. Col. Patrick Duggan, the battalion commander.
“I was beside myself. I was speechless,” Hendley said. “It was overwhelming.”
Her husband, retired Special Forces Lt. Col. Al Hendley, who served 26 years in the Army during and after the Vietnam War era, said she is the “first outsider” to get that award who wasn’t affiliated with an active-duty organization.
She credited volunteers and ladies auxiliary friends as the force that led to the award.
“I never thought I was an island. It was all of us pulling together,” she said.
Her team raised enough money to send more than 80 care packages with personal comfort items, hygiene products and Las Vegas casino playing cards to troops in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Womack and Walter Reed Army medical centers.
The ladies auxiliary also made and delivered more than 40 quilts to wounded soldiers and helped families of burn victims in Fayetteville, N.C.
She also led an effort to match donors to Hats for Zoe, a nonprofit organization that gives hats to children battling cancer.
“Mrs. Hendley’s initiative, leadership and motivation contributed greatly to the quality of life for both the deployed soldiers and their families,” the award’s citation reads.
Anyone who wants to contribute to the nonprofit Special Forces Association Chapter 51 Ladies Auxiliary can send an email to sfa51ladies@aol.com.
Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.
