The numbers of banners paying tribute to area veterans continues to grow in local towns and villages
As Remembrance Day approaches, Upper Valley communities will soon raise hundreds of banners showing the faces of local heroes to whom the day pays homage. And the number of banners continues to grow as more and more families add veteran family members to the growing list of faces lining downtown streets in Bath, Florenceville-Bristol, Hartland, Woodstock, Perth-Andover and Plaster Rock.
In Bath, for example, the number of new banners more than doubled in the second year of the program launched by the Bath Lions Club and village. Bath Lions Club member and 36-year Canadian Army veteran Mike Nixon said they would soon post 35 banners, up from the 14 they started last year.
“They will look very nice and be a great tribute,” said Nixon, who takes applications and helps families gather information about their family member’s service.
In Woodstock, former mayor and current council member Randy Leonard first brought the banner program to the Upper River more than a decade ago. From his start with a dozen banners, including his Second War veteran father, the number has climbed to more than 90, including 17 new ones this year.
In the days leading up to Remembrance services at the downtown Woodstock war monument in front of the Woodstock courthouse, the banners line Main Street and parts of Connell. King, Queen and Chapel streets.
In Hartland, banners fill the windows of town businesses and offices.
In Florenceville-Bristol, the town will display banners along lower and middle Main Street from the middle of October to mid-November.
