Skip to content

Banners to commemorate military service

Veterans Way is lined with 17 banners honouring 24 veterans from the Okotoks area, or whose families live in town.

Veterans Way is lined with banners of remembrance in honour of men and women who have served their country.

This is the inaugural year for the Okotoks Legion’s banner program. Families can purchase a banner to recognize their loved ones, whether they died in service or came home. They do not need to have served in the World Wars, but could have been involved in Korea, Vietnam, or more recent efforts such as in Bosnia, Kuwait or Afghanistan.

“As long as they served honourably and have a connection to Okotoks we can accept them for a banner,” said Legion president Bob McLeod.

Veterans may have been Okotoks residents or have ties to families currently living in town, he said.

The banners cost $100 for a photo on one side, $200 to have two different photos on each side of the banner, or $170 to have the same photo on both sides, he said.

Though it will carry a loss on the project this year, McLeod said the Legion wanted to ensure the banners were affordable for families.

“We’re very well-supported by our poppy fund here so we don’t need to run this as a fundraiser,” said McLeod. “It’s just a nice way to remember our veterans who have served.”

This year the program hit a few snares that held it up, and the Legion had just 17 banners go up with 24 veterans represented, he said. They hope for more next year, when people have more advanced notice to prepare photos and submissions, he said.

In future years McLeod said he hopes to have the banners hung by mid-October until after Remembrance Day.

The banner project couldn’t have been such a success in getting off the ground without the help of the Town of Okotoks, he said. Council approved the program and the transportation department hung all the banners in two days, he said.

Mayor Bill Robertson said it was important for the Town to back the memorial project.

“It’s unfathomable to us what these men and women endured,” said Robertson. “At ages 18 or 19 or 20, they went off to war not knowing if they were coming home, and they truly made the ultimate sacrifice.

“I think sometimes we use those words but forget the gravity of them. These banners bring that to the front of people’s minds.”

Foothills MP John Barlow applauded the project during the poppy campaign launch ceremony on Oct. 29, calling it a “great initiative.”

“I think it says a lot about Okotoks as a community when you see Veterans Way, and the monument on that street, and now the banners that are going to be put up in Okotoks,” said Barlow. “I know this is going to be another very successful initiative for the fledgling Okotoks Legion.”

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks