Stayner Heritage Society banners honour local veterans

New banners have gone up on the main street of Stayner this week honouring 26 local veterans.
The banners, with photos and names of people who served in the world wars, have been installed on light standards by The Stayner Heritage Society, with support from the families of the veterans.
In this first phase of the project, men and one woman who served in the Second World War were selected, along with three First World War veterans. Several of them returned home after the war and made important contributions to the community,
The initiative stemmed from a passion project of Stayner resident Tom Scholte. He started out making a book and video of local veterans, collecting pictures and stories. Many of the names are still prominent in the community today and links can be made to current residents.
“It has become a very emotional project,” said Scholte.
“It has been a good project for the Heritage Society and it will carry on into the future,” said Heritage Society member Myrna Johnson.
There is a plan to do a second printing, adding another 22 veterans. They just need the township to install more of the light standards that can accommodate banners, said Johnson, laughing.
She noted that other towns, especially in the United States, are good at publicly recognizing the contributions of their hometown soldiers.
“It’s a great way to honour our veterans,” said Johnson. “They went away to war and when they came back, it wasn’t really talked about. It was kind of forgotten.”
It is good timing, said Scholte, as this year marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.
“I think this project will bring this community together and it will bring people out to see them,” said Scholte, adding that there is already a lot of interest from local youth in the area. “It is cross generational in that it will touch our generation and two generations below us.”
The Stayner Heritage Society is hosting a dedication of the Veterans Memorial Banners at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Stayner Cenotaph, located at town hall, 217 Gideon St. A reception will follow at the Stayner Legion. The banners will stay up until Remembrance Day.

Banner veterans:

Ken Allen, Army WWII
Russ Baker, RCAF WWII
Oss Burkholder, Navy WWII
Arnott Carruthers, Army WWII
Gordon Charman, Army WWII
Walter Clemence, RCAF WWII
Dr. Raymond E Ives, Army WWI
Ken Kerr, RCAF WWII
Tom Lowe, Army WWII
D. Allister MacDonald, RCAF WWII
Ed Martin, Army WWII
Russell Mathers, RCAF WWII
Stan Nixon, RCAF WWII
Eric Norman, RCAF WWII
Bert Foster Noble, Army WWI
Bob Noble, Army WWII
Thomas Parton, Army WWI
Jack Rainbird, RCAF WWII
Fraser Robb, RCAF WWII
Chester Spence, Army WWII
Mervyn Walker, Army WWII
Jack Warden, Army WWII
Mabel Ware, Army WWII
J. Roger Watson, RCAF WWII
Charles Wilson, Navy WWII