By Kathleen Knowles
Blue Water Healthy Living is proudly supporting the Blue Water Fallen Heroes Banner Project. The program was conceived to recognize and honor over 550 military service members from Saint Clair County who died in service to their country 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 before Memorial Day and the week after, in the cities and towns where the hero lived. Target date 2021.
Before commencing with this week’s questions, we would like to share with you one of the service members whose family came forward to include their Fallen Hero in the banner program.
A family member in Florida sent the photo of Sergeant William T. Krafft to a relative in Port Huron, and then to us. Sergeant Krafft was 29 years of age when his tour of duty ended December 22nd, 1944. Sergeant Krafft proudly represented the city of Port Huron in the United States Army. A historical note provided to us is that Sergeant Krafft’s father and grandfather owned quite a bit of property in what is now known as Fort Gratiot. Krafft Road is named after the family, and Williams Court in Fort Gratiot is named after Sergeant Krafft. Sergeant Krafft’s image is the 230th image we have scanned of the 580+ we are looking for.
Does your family or someone you know have a similar story to tell about a Fallen Hero you would like to honor? Contact the hotline at 810-985-2007 and we will arrange to scan his or her photograph for a banner to fly for two weeks during the Memorial Day celebration.
Week 10 Q & A
Q: What is the cost to the County/City/Village/Township for these banners?
A : There should be no Government dollars into this project with the exception of the install and takedown. This is for labor and no different than any other display.
Q: What is the reason for this project?
A: To honor and reflect on the human sacrifice of each individual municipality, village and township county-wide one week before and one week after Memorial Day.
Q: Is Saint Clair County the only county doing this project?
A: At this time, this project is the only county-wide project in the United States. One should take note that the Saint Clair County Department of Veterans Affairs hopes that our neighboring counties will come on board and do the same. If that happens, the usage of our banner template could be made available for this purpose. In the scheme of things, what kind of message would that convey about US & WE?
Q: Is there a deadline for having a banner printed?
A) Not really a deadline. When the Department of Veterans Affairs has 300 images scanned, then those 300 will be printed. Hopefully, the project will have received enough contributions to print all of these banners for 2021. The thinking is that once the 300 go on display, it might bring out more images to be scanned for the following year.
Q: If I make a financial contribution, how can I be sure that it will go toward a banner in my community?
A) We appreciate your willingness to contribute. There is only one account with the Community Foundation, and that is for the county-wide project. This project was deliberately constructed to not have community vs community. The project is designed to reflect on all of us in Saint Clair County.
This is a wonderful project to honor those who have made our freedom possible. Without them, none of us would enjoy life as we know it. They deserved to be recognized for making the ultimate sacrifice.
Please help us locate photos of these many sacrifices. If you know of anyone who died while in service of their country 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
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.
Blue Water Healthy Living strongly encourages everyone to get involved in this worthy project to honor those in our communities who are responsible for the very freedom we all enjoy.
Kathleen Knowles
Contributing Writer
