HONOURING OUR VETS
Pair of local ceremonies
When Daisy Stewart saw banners commemorating veterans on light poles in Wheatley, she knew she had to bring the idea to Kingsville. Just over a year ago, the 72-yearold Kingsville woman married a veteran, and she has been a vocal supporter of servicemen and women ever since.
“It is our absolute duty to do everything we can for our veterans,” Stewart said at the unveiling of the first Salute to Veterans banner outside Royal Canadian Legion Branch 188 Saturday. The man pictured on the inaugural banner is her husband, Murray Stewart, 85, who served in the Royal Canadian Armed Forces from 1952 until his retirement in 1987.
“The sad thing is we’re losing a lot of them quickly,” Daisy Stewart said. “We want them to see their banner while they’re here.” Stewart and her husband created the veteran banner project committee less than two months ago with Mary-Maureen Atkin, a veteran service officer for the local legion, and her husband, Jay. Atkin’s father, Sgt. Major Maurice Snook, was taken prisoner during the Raid on Dieppe in 1942. He died in 2011 at the age of 92, and is now featured on one of the 15 vinyl banners unveiled by the committee.
“We wanted to let everybody see our veterans,” Atkin said, holding back tears. “We wanted people to see faces, and put names to pictures.”
Atkin said committee members considered waiting until next year to have the banners printed since they had only been working on the project for a short time. But they wanted to honour the 100th anniversary of First World War Armistice this November, so they decided to move quickly and complete as many as they could. More than 40 people have approached committee members to express interest in sponsoring veterans next year. Based on the project’s popularity, Stewart anticipates more than 100 banners will be erected around Kingsville within the next three years. In addition to the banners, the committee will create a book filled with biographies of local veterans, Stewart said. Each veteran will have their own page with banner picture and more information. “We try to capture a lot on the banners, but they have stories they want to share,” said Stewart. Kingsville town council unanimously approved the project at its Sept. 10 meeting, and decided to fully sponsor the first banner created.
“For us it was a clear indication and support for the efforts of our veterans, recognizing all the sacrifices that they’ve made,” said Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos. “We look forward to seeing it continue along the street with the dedication to each and every veteran in our community.”
The banners will be displayed for about six weeks around Remembrance Day each year. Each veteran, or the sponsor, must have a Kingsville connection to be featured.