'Honour Our Veterans Banner Program' Starts Accepting Applications

SAM ODROWSKI
The Standard

UXBRIDGE: The Honour Our Veterans Banner Program is entering its fourth year in 2018, and is now accepting applications.

The legacy program is run through the Uxbridge Legion and is aimed at honouring veterans from the area.

Honour Our Veterans Banner Program organizer, Tish Macdonald said, “It’s a way for us to show honour to all of our, past and present, serving military personal in Uxbridge, and it kind of keeps remembrance on the forefront.”

Through the program, hundreds of banners are created, showing the face of the honoured veteran and a little bit of information regarding their service.

In conjunction with the banners, Tish told the Standard, the Legion is also putting together a booklet, sharing the stories of all the honoured veterans in the program.

“The booklet will actually enhance our program and share a little story about service from each of our veterans,” Tish said.

The stories in the booklet will correspond with the veterans being honoured through the banner program and will serve as a reminder of their sacrifice.

Councillor Dave Barton is applying to the Honour Our Veterans Banner Program, to give recognition to his great uncle, Corporal James Reginald Leney, who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the battle of Normandy.

Dave’s mother, Donna Barton is helping with the application and excited to honour her Uncle James.

“This is a way to keep his memory alive through the generations,” Donna said. “I’ve really begun to realize the importance of passing this information on to the next generations.”

She is happy to be a part program and looks forward to seeing her loved one’s banner hung in Uxbridge.
Donna said, “Every time the banners go up it makes people think about the legion a little more and ways they might be able to help and support it.”

Tish told the Standard, the banners leave a lasting impression on anyone who drives through Uxbridge.
“We have 167 banners, so when people drive into the town it makes quite an impact,” she said. “It’s a real visual statement of remembrance.”

Tish is a teacher at Uxbridge Secondary School, and every autumn she takes her students on a walk-through Uxbridge to see all of the banners from the program.

“I have taken students out on a banner walk for the past few years, usually coinciding with our Vimy tours,” she said. “The educational piece for me as a teacher is huge.”

Tish encourages all Uxbridge residents who would like to honour a loved one this year for Remembrance Day, to apply for the Honour Our Veterans Banner Program.

The deadline for submitting applications is August 1st, 2018.