By Kathleen Knowles
Answers Your Questions!
Week 6
If you have been following Blue Water Healthy Living, you are familiar with the Blue Water Fallen Heroes Community Banner Project. The program was conceived to recognize and honor over 550 military service members from Saint Clair County killed in action from World War I to the current conflicts. These banners will include the service member’s picture, branch of service, their rank, the conflict they were involved in, and the city, town or village they resided. The banners will be displayed the week of Memorial Day and the week after in the cities and towns where the hero lived. Target date 2021.
Those of you who have not heard of the program or simply want to know more about it will now be provided with a forum in which to ask questions. We will be accepting your questions which will then be answered directly by those involved in the project.
Your Questions From Last Week:
Q: Why not put the banners up on the poles where are the families of the fallen hero lives?
A: Our intent is to display each banner in the city of record for that GI.
Q: Would you be willing to expand the program to include veterans if they were willing to cover the cost?
A: We are barely 1/3rd of the way to capturing the 580+ photos needed for this project. Taking on the Veteran photos is a whole other project and we cannot devote any time until this project is completed. That plus the fact that there are about 17,000 veterans in St Clair County. Raising the required amount of money to print that many banners would take years.
Q: What if someone would like their fallen hero on a banner, but cannot come up with a picture?
A: Even if no photo is available, please contact our hotline at (810) 985-2007. We then would pursue every available means to locate one. We do not want to select the photo for the banner, it’s up to the families to select it. If we can locate multiple photos, the choice is then up to the family.
Q: Will there be a ceremony honoring the fallen heroes in conjunction with the banners?
A: That’s a great question. Nancy at the Department of Veterans Affairs is entertaining something along those lines, but we have a long way to go. It would be great to do so.
Q: What about a parade to honor the fallen heroes as well?
A: We already have a Memorial Day Parade. It would take place in the middle of the two-week window the banners are up.
Please help us locate photos of these many sacrifices. If you know of anyone killed in action in any of the wars from World War I to the current conflicts, please contact us at the hotline below so that we may honor their service and sacrifice.
Our hotline is (810) 985-2007 | ksknowles1@gmail.com
Also:
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask us. Send it to the email address below and we will see that you get an answer. Check back to Blue Water Healthy Living for the answer to your question(s).