Honoring a Humanitarian-Minded Soldier

When Sandy Tretter of Norwalk heard of the tragic death of a U.S. soldier serving in Afghanistan, and of a Westport knitting circle honoring his memory, she put her nimble fingers to task.

The knitting group creates gifts of hand-made helmet liners and scarves for members of the soldier's battalion.

"The story just tugged at my heartstrings," said Tretter as she worked Sunday morning on her 13th helmet liner in brown and olive green wool at Temple Israel with 13 other knitting and crocheting volunteers.

"I'm not Jewish but I don't care," she said.

Tretter's handmade helmet liner and perhaps 20 like it, plus scarves and neck gaiters, will be shipped from Westport to Kabul this week destined for the Army's 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division.

They will all bear a hand-stitched label with the words: "Handmade in honor and memory of Captain Ben Sklaver."

Army Captain Benjamin Sklaver, 32, was on his second tour in Afghanistan last October as a civil affairs officer with the 422nd Battalion when he was killed in a suicide attack in a remote village.

Capt. Sklaver, a Hamden native, had been assigned to assist the military in improving its relations with the Pashtun ethnic group through infrastructure assistance.

Prior to his military career, he had started a non-profit agency, ClearWater, to provide humanitarian assistance to African refugees. His efforts brought clean drinking water to thousands of Ugandans, according to an article in the Stamford Advocate quoting Sklaver's fiancée, Beth Segaloff, of Mamaroneck, NY.

Just like here at home, the temperature in Kabul is diving into the teens at night this week and much lower in mountainous northern regions.

Before leaving for his second tour to Afghanistan, Capt. Sklaver told his fiancée how nice it would be to have a warm lining for his helmet in such conditions.

Segaloff is a friend of Alice Czuczka, who directs family and special programs at Temple Israel and is a master knitter herself. When Segaloff told Czuczka what her would-be husband said before he left, Czuczka said she wanted to help her friend honor his memory by providing helmet warmers and scarves to soldiers.

The gifts follow in the traditions of women's circles who created hand-knit "Wooly-Pulleys" for U.S. troops during World War II.

"There's so little we can otherwise do as individuals," remarked Shirlee Schwarz of Westport, who was determined to juggle other obligations to find the time this week to complete her brown helmet warmer. "This is something we can do to show our love."

"Everyone here cares about doing something good for people you can't reach directly," she added.

Donating the woolen yarn in camouflage colors of black, brown and olive green, Czuczka assembled a knitting circle that has regularly met in a classroom at the Coleytown Road synagogue to knit and crochet the warm items. The group consists of veteran knitters and novices, congregation members and interested outsiders who heard about the project from the news media and friends.

The helmet liner pattern followed by the Temple Israel Knitting Circle, resembling a medieval knight's head gear, is Army-approved for soldiers on the front line.

They are not allowed to wear synthetics — which carry a risk of burning into the skin in combat conditions — whereas the mandatory wool is non-flammable and stays warm even when wet.

The group will meet once more, on March 7, when the weather in Afghanistan is warming. Then they'll turn their attention to other projects, including knit caps for preemies and baby blankets for the needy.

To participate in the knitting group or find out other ways you can help, call Temple Israel at 203-227-1293 or visit the synagogue's Web site by clicking here.