ESTEVAN - Craig Bird is pleased with the response to the South East Military Museums’ commemorative banner project.
A total of 35 banners are hanging in seven communities in the southeast this year. Twenty of them are in Estevan. There are four banners in each of Redvers, Carlyle and Weyburn, two in Stoughton, and one each in Midale and Lampman.
“It’s actually a pretty good start. I’m pretty happy with the progress that we made this year with the banner program, and it’s going to just expand for next year,” said Bird.
The final banner was installed in Redvers on Monday.
Bird is particularly encouraged with the regional support. He wasn’t able to get out as much as he wanted to promote the banners. He hopes to start earlier next year now that he knows what needs to be done for the tributes to hang in communities.
The museum needs to get the green light from the communities and SaskPower if banners are to hang on SaskPower poles. Bird has already spoken to the Royal Canadian Legion’s Carlyle branch about some additional banners for next year, and Carnduff and Radville would like to have banners as well.
“And then I’ve talked to people outside the southeast wanting to know if I could help them out with banners as well, so it’s so far, so good,” Bird said.
Other communities that he knows of have started to create banners of their own in honour of those who served their country.
The banners that were hung this year will be up again next year, and will be joined by others. Eventually Bird hopes that the banners will be returned to the families, if they want them. If they don’t, the families can donate banners back to the museum.
He noted the banners will go up much earlier next year to help people remember the service of these individuals.
Bird also hopes to resume his annual presentation in the spring to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and his Second World War presentation in the fall, and would have the banners out for those occasions.
“Some of these veterans took part in some of those campaigns and those battles, so I will reuse those during my talks and with the museum, so that we can display them during different functions,” said Bird.
The families of the veterans have been pleased with the tributes, and the response from the public has been supportive.
“The feedback has all been positive. The families think it’s fantastic, and it was kind of a surprise to some of the family members,” said Bird.
Some people have seen the banners and said they had fond memories and stories of the individual being celebrated.
“Community response in all of the communities has been tremendous. Even when I was putting them up, I had people stopping on the side of the road and saying that it was a great idea,” said Bird.
They would then say they wanted a banner for one of their family members.
The banners typically measure 36 inches by 30 inches, and have the name and photo of the veteran, the war or mission they participated in, the unit they served with and some poppies. The format and theme is the same for each of the different war or mission.
“We want it to be consistent so that it was easy for all the helpers that we’ve got,” said Bird.
The city of Estevan and other municipalities supplied time and equipment to help with putting up the banners.
