What was started as a humble way to honour veterans six years ago has grown into a fixture in the community on Remembrance Day.
In 2018, the Drumheller Genealogy Club, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 22 and the Town of Drumheller unveiled a unique way to honour veterans. That summer, they offered residents the opportunity to sponsor a banner to be hung in the downtown core with a photo of a veteran. This may have been a family member or friend, or an honoured member of the community who served.
The project was inspired by a Legion in Harriston, Ontario. It has since spread across Canada.
At the time, the organizers of the project aimed to hang 20 banners. In that first year, there were 39 banners. The first hung was World War II and Korean War veteran Stan Baird, a Legion lifetime member.
The project continued to grow, and today, there are 87 banners hung throughout downtown as well as at the Badlands Community Facility.
This year they have added four more banners, including Frederick Lingard George Bermingham, Obeline Leonier Grenier, Claude Barthwick Morden and George Doveton Greentree.
The banners are made by Image Crafters in Drumheller and are hung by the Town of Drumheller staff.
The goal of these banners when they were originally installed six years ago remains today, as Genealogy Club member Debbie LePlante said at the unveiling,
"We hope everyone will walk around and look at these banners and be reminded our wish is to extend the period of remembrance leading up to Remembrance Day on November 11, to say thank you to those brave men and women who served, and that we must never forget the sacrifices any Veteran has made so that we can live in a free democratic society like we have in Canada.”
