Swift Current Museum unveils new banners to honour veterans during Remembrance Day period
Several new banners in honour of veterans are part of the banner display in and around Memorial Park in Swift Current during this year’s Remembrance Day period.
The official unveiling of 10 new banners as part of the Swift Current Museum’s Honour our Veterans Banner Program took place at the museum, Oct. 24.
City General Manager of Cultural and Aquatic Services Melissa Shaw emceed the event and presented details about the 10 veterans being honoured through the program.
“It’s an honour for us to do this every year,” she said afterwards. “We’re quite excited with this inductee class of 10 that brings us to 59 banners that we’ve been able to put in the park. It’s really important to honour the veterans of Swift Current and area.”
The Swift Current Museum began the banner program in 2016 to give recognition to veterans in a meaningful and public way.
The double-sided, full colour banners can be sponsored by family, friends or local businesses. The details on each banner include the name and photograph of the person being honoured, the war or era when they served, their branch of service, and the name of the sponsor.
Banners are displayed at Memorial Park for three consecutive years during å annual Remembrance Day period, and thereafter it will be returned to a sponsor as a keepsake.
The number of new banners added to the program will vary from year to year. There were four new banners in 2022 and this year’s addition of 10 new banners is a large number for a single year.
“We saw quite a bit of interest come in after last year, when we did the induction
and put up the banners,” she said. “But we didn’t do any increased marketing or any big push. I think word of mouth and success of the program down in Memorial Park has really helped us.”
She noted that families of veterans are excited to participate in the program. Banner sponsoårs are requested to provide details about a veteran’s service as part of a submission. In many cases it results in a bit of an ancestry dig for families to collect information about a veteran.
“We find that in lots of cases the families maybe don’t know as much about the history of their loved one who fought, especially in World War One and World War Two,” she said. “It’s not always something that the veterans like to talk about. It helps give those family members a little bit more of the story that they didn’t know growing up. So definitely special for the family members and we feel incredibly honoured
that they trust us to share that story with us.”
Mayor Al Bridal brought greetings on behalf of the City of Swift Current during the unveiling ceremony. He noted the banner program leaves a legacy that ensures future generations can become educated about and deepen their respect for the brave contributions made by these veterans.
“When we attend Remembrance Day ceremonies, it’s quite something to look up at the lamp posts in Memorial Park with these veteran banners displayed,” he said. “It really hits home that the conflicts in this world, both past and present, affect all of us and we’re very grateful for the sacrifices made by our veterans.”
Two of the new veteran banners honour soldiers from the First World War and seven banners are for veterans from the Second World War. One banner is for a veteran from the Cold War period.
David Gordon Mccuaig, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as an instrument electrical technician from 1968 to 1977, attended the banner unveiling ceremony with his family.