ESTEVAN - Banners celebrating the memory of local veterans can now be seen in Estevan.
The fundraising project by South East Military Museums saw the first eight commemorative historic banners installed in three different locations on Fourth Street.
Last Thursday, family members of two of the veterans displayed on the banners met with the representatives of the museum and the Royal Canadian Legion Estevan's branch volunteers to mark the launch of the project, which hopefully will soon grow not only in Estevan but also in other southeast communities.
So far, the project has been launched in Estevan and Carlyle and they are waiting to hear back from Weyburn, Arcola, Stoughton and Lampman.
Marlys Collins, whose father served during the Second World War, as well as Robert Rooks, whose uncle served in World War One and was killed in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, attended the ceremony. Collins was the first person to purchase a banner to commemorate her father. The banner is displayed on Eleventh Avenue by the intersection with Fourth Street.
Rooks' uncle is commemorated on the banner displayed by the legion.
"I find it a special for myself because he never spoke about war. And as you get older, you start questioning … And now he's not here anymore. So for me, it's just honouring him," Collins said. "He's very humble. And I think he just felt he did what he was asked to do. And carried on. And a lot too was probably trauma."
She said she reached out to Bird after she saw some information about the banner project. And to see her father's picture on the street meant a lot. Her father took six months of training in Regina and from there he joined the troops fighting in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Holland (the Netherlands).
Rooks also said that in conversation with Bird, he decided to use this approach to commemorate his uncle's contribution.
"Navies, armies and air forces are made up of individuals. And sometimes individual thinking gets lost because people are looking at these big pictures. But no, it's each soldier, each sailor, each airperson out there doing the job they're trained for. I think that's what's important about these banners. Anybody who knows such an individual can get such a banner so the individual can get recognized," Rooks said.
Currently, eight banners can be found by the Estevan's legion branch, the Soldier's Tree Monument and the Southern Plains Co-op. However, museum founder Craig Bird has many more names of those who fought for Canada in different operations throughout the years, those who returned home, and those that never came back. The goal of the project is to commemorate all men and women from the area who partook in the two world wars, as well as in the Korean War and peacekeeping operations on behalf of Canada.
Bird said he will have 11 banners altogether up soon, and the rest depends on the support from the community.
Just to give an idea of how many people there are to commemorate in the area, Bird gave some numbers on the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
"I was doing some research just on Vimy Ridge, and there are 59 rural municipalities in this area. Out of that area, in the southeast, there were 111 casualties. So pretty much every town and city in this quadrant had somebody that was killed," Bird said, adding that there were over 1,200 casualties from the southeast throughout the First World War alone.
"A lot of communities have suffered some losses. That's not including all the people that came back with shell shock, the modern-day PTSD, and died afterwards. A lot of veterans suffered from mental health issues, alcoholism, drug issues including our modern-day veterans.
"The legion program is here to support veterans as well. So not only does the museum do this in our little way, but the legion is there to support veterans, our modern-day veterans with all issues that they have," Bird said.
He also pointed out that people tend to remember only those who lost their lives in battles. But there were a lot of brave soldiers that fought for Canada, came back and continued with their lives here. It probably wasn't easy for them to overcome wars they partook in, but they did it. They also should be celebrated and remembered by the community. And the banners are a great way to do so.
The museum plans on contacting local businesses to see if they would want to sponsor some banners to help keep the local history alive.
"I want to keep this alive and running for as long as I'm around, hopefully, and well into the future. I think it's important that we do this sort of thing," Bird said.
At this point, he was approved to put banners along the main Estevan arteries – Fourth Street, Kensington Avenue, most of King Street and Thirteen Avenue, with permission for 110 spots just in the city of Estevan.
During the launching ceremony, Bird also thanked all involved with the project, including Estevan Legion branch president Jim (Frosty) Forrest and the City of Estevan.
“And hopefully, the plan is to keep it going every year in the fall to Remembrance Day."
The brackets for the banners were sponsored by the city, but each banner is sponsored either by a family member or by an organization or business. Six out of eight banners were purchased by the Army Cadets League of Saskatchewan. Seven of the current banners are Vimy Ridge casualties, and the other one is a Second World War survivor.
If someone has a family member or friend that is or was from this area, the South East Military Museum can help with the banner.
Donor Level banner purchase is $200. For this price, the banner will hang for the season. People would have the option of keeping the banner after the season or donating it to the museum to be reused in future projects.
People also can opt for a corporate level, which is a mounting hardware purchase. For $300 they would donate the mounting hardware in the community of their choice to be utilized by the museum and community for current banner mounting and in the future.
At the commemoration level, a banner and hardware are purchased for $500. The mounting hardware would remain with the museum for future projects.
Tax receipts are available by conditions.
For all banners the museum would need a photo of the person for commemoration, preferably in uniform, plus their name and rank, unit served with, if known, and era (i.e. World War One, World War Two, Korea, Afghanistan, Peacekeeping, Peacetime, etc.).
With any questions, people can reach Bird on Facebook, phone him at 306-634-3044, message on the website at www.semm.ca or email semilitarymuseum@outlook.com.
