Veterans’ groups are thrilled with a new city project that will see banners featuring the faces of soldiers, sailors and airmen hanging from streetlights to help promote and enhance remembrance.
The heritage advisory committee recently launched the Veterans Banner Program, an initiative that allows residents to recognize veterans past and present who served Canada — and, in some cases, gave their lives — so citizens could enjoy the rights and freedoms accorded to them in a democracy.
A maximum of 40 banners will be placed on streetlights along Main Street and downtown for November. The visual reminders are expected to promote remembrance, educate students and citizens and ensure remembrance for future generations.
More info can be found at www.moosejaw.ca/veteranbanners.
“It’s a great thing … especially during Remembrance Week,” said Bob Travale, president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 59. “That’s quite an initiative … . I’m just really pleased.”
Several committee members approached the organization a year ago to discuss the project and suggested some examples of pictures for the downtown banners, he continued. The legion wholeheartedly supported the idea and agreed to purchase a banner.
Travale thought the banners would help promote remembrance, while the faces of military personnel would emotionally affect residents.
He pointed out that many municipalities in Ontario and British Columbia run similar programs to make their residents aware of veterans’ contributions and sacrifices; residents there have enthusiastically accepted those initiatives.
Some communities in Saskatchewan that already hang banners to honour veterans include Weyburn, the Battlefords, Carlyle, Estevan, Norquay, Yorkton, Kamsack and St. Walburg.
This project also has “quite a lot” of meaning for the legion president since he is a veteran and served many years in the military.
“You’re always proud when somebody takes up the initiative to remember the veterans of years ago who fought in the wars,” Travale said. “But not just the wars; also, people that served in the military.”
While November is the “perfect” time to hang the banners, the legion president also thought the city should fly the pennants in June because Decoration Day is that month. That event sees veterans’ groups placing Canadian flags on the headstones of military personnel in both cemeteries and then holding a ceremony at Rosedale.
“Remembrance Week would be right for now, but if they wanted to keep them up longer, oh yeah, that’s a positive,” Travale added.
Don Purington, president of the Moose Jaw Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans (ANAVETS) Club No. 252, has been pushing his members to become involved in sponsoring banners, including families who have lost sons in the wars.
“I really love that banner project. It will bring awareness … . I say, let’s get them up a month or two before Remembrance Day. (Let’s) have them up there quite a bit,” he said. “We should honour our guys every day.”
Purington thought hanging banners with the faces of young men and boys who fought and — sometimes — died in war would be great. He recalled participating in Decoration Day at Rosedale Cemetery a few years ago and noticing that many boys were only 20 when they died.
“And that really hit home with me. And that really set me straight to what these guys really stood for,” he continued. “A lot of these families lose their children very young … . We don’t recognize these guys enough.”
The ANAVETS president added that he and his organization are 100-per-cent in favour of the initiative.
