05/27/2024
Happy Memorial Day!!! ❤️🤍💙
Proud to feature local veterans Jeff Bloomquist, Charlie Watkins, Vince Horrigan and to honor all our servicemen and women in this special edition!!! Thank you, and phenomenal job to all of our writers and graphic artists!
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By Andrea Magnuson…
“INCOMING!” a soldier shouted, and the platoon took cover. The first enemy gr***de exploded where one GI was just sitting. The second hit Captain Murphy on his back, rolled off, and exploded nearby, incapacitating the captain, and tearing into Rocky Bleier’s right leg and heel. After the Army medic examined the commanding officer, he moved to Bleier and asked where the soldier was hit. Bleier said he had a great deal of pain in his right foot. Medic PFC-3 Jeff Bloomquist carefully removed his boot and protectively dressed the wound to prepare him to be carried through the jungle and helicoptered out to a safe location.
Jamestown hometown hero, Jeff Bloomquist, can lay claim to being the initial member of the medical team who enabled Robert “Rocky” Bleier to rehabilitate and return to professional football, play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and win four Super Bowls. Recognizing his courage and service to his fellow soldiers, General William Westmoreland decorated PFC Bloomquist in the field. Jeff once told us how touched and honored he felt several years later when he attended a veteran reunion.
At some point during the weekend, soldiers who were treated by the medic lined up and saluted him to show their appreciation. Letters written by families of veterans thanking Jeff for saving their sons were read out loud. Most recently, two representatives traveled to Jamestown to present an autographed football to Jeff on behalf of Rocky Bleier.
Those who do not know of Jeff’s Vietnam experience may recognize him as the man who dresses as Abraham Lincoln and marches in various parades, including our Memorial Day parade. He has idolized Lincoln since he was a little boy and has read-and currently owns-hundreds of books on the 16th President of the United States, developing an impressive knowledge of Lincoln’s life and times. According to a memoir written by his brother, Henry, Jeff has marched in nearly 400 parades and has given programs in approximately 125 classrooms. In 2013, Niagara County Community College invited Jeff to present the Gettysburg Address on its 150th anniversary.
Still others may know Jeff from his work with the American Cancer Society for which he personally has raised over $100,000. He himself is a cancer survivor, having been a victim of Agent Orange exposure. He has traveled to the VA Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania for numerous treatments and surgeries over the years without complaint. Jeff’s dear friend, Bob Williams, makes sure he gets back and forth to all his appointments.
A life-long resident of Jamestown, his father owned Shea’s Deluxe Cleaners. In Jeff’s early days he was a pitcher for various local baseball teams. He worked for many years at J.S. Auto Supply, Goodell and Dibert Homes, and at several businesses and homes performing a variety of repair and maintenance responsibilities. His work ethic is another one of his finest attributes, probably due to his upbringing; raised to do chores and do them right.
The Magnusons cannot remember a time when we did not know Jeff Bloomquist. He attended Jamestown Public Schools with my husband, Tim, albeit a few years older. My earliest memory is working with him to stuff envelopes for political campaigns and walking door-to-door to make “lit drops”. He even ran for Mayor of Jamestown one year, as evidenced by the “Vote for Bloomquist” bumper stickers we still have around our house.
Jeff is the definition of a good American citizen: responsible, keeps up to date on current events, and contributes to the community. Every year he places flags on the graves of veterans. He has a scholarship fund that he regularly contributes to at the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation: the C. Jeffrey Bloomquist History Scholarship Fund.
He loves his country, his family, his friends, and his city. And if you know Jeff, you know he loves Christmas. Every year he beautifully decorates his tree and nearly every empty space in his house. His dining room table becomes full of cards and treats he receives during Advent. He sends out or personally delivers hundreds of Christmas cards that include a wonderful message inside.
Within his latest card he wrote “To God: ‘I love Christmastime’”. He closed the message by saying: “This time each year I recall December 1969 in Vietnam, Southeast Asia. I was in a war-torn country, homesick and deeply missing my family and our traditional Christmas. Could this be why I overdo it at Christmastime?”
In preparation for this article, I listened to Robert “Rocky” Bleier’s video narrative that was recorded for the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration found at https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.115964/. The Vietnam War was not a popular war and returning soldiers did not come home to parades and other fanfare. Bleier described how they were disrespected and sometimes spat upon.
He said some were never thanked for their service.
Thank you to all the Vietnam War veterans. Thank you to all who have served and are serving our country. Thank you, Jeff.
