Kincardine Legion installs 31 memorial banners in Kincardine and Tiverton

The Kincardine Legion has expanded its banner installation program, with 21 flying in downtown Kincardine and another 10 in downtown Tiverton.

The program began last year, honouring local soldiers who died in the First World War.
 

Spearheaded by the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 183, Kincardine, the idea first surfaced following the Remembrance Day service in 2013.
 

Laura Haight, who co-chairs the poppy committee with Stew Neely, says that several Legion members were sitting in the Clubroom enjoying a beverage and discussing what to do in 2014 to honour the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.
 

"Stew and I both knew we wanted to do something special," says Haight. "I had the notion to do up the banners, but we wondered how we would go about doing it."
 

Over the summer, two students working at the Walker House, Sarafina Pagnotta and Kylie Smith, were doing research for the First World War exhibit.
 

"We scanned some photos and got more," says Haight. "We found out the soldiers' birth dates, and got the dates of their deaths from Veterans Affairs. We were also able to get enlistment cards from Bruce County archives."
 

At that point, they had photos, names and dates, and with the help of Irv Mills of C&I Graphics, they designed a banner. The banners are now done by Progressive Results Group which purchased C&I Graphics last year.

In the fall of 2014, 16 banners were installed in downtown Kincardine. The Legion then urged the public to provide more pictures and information about First World War soldiers from the Kincardine area, who died on the battlefield.
 

"We really, really, really want people to go to their basements and find that photo of great-uncle Joe who was lost in the Great War and send it to us," says Haight, "so we can produce even more banners. 
 

"I would love to get photos of 90 per cent of the fallen soldiers listed on the cenotaphs in Kincardine, Bruce Township and Tiverton. That is my target. By 2018, we should have banners in Kincardine, Tiverton, Glammis and Underwood."

As well as additional banners this year, the Legion has had a large photo sign of the Tiverton Platoon 1917, made by J&D Signs of Kincardine, mounted on the west wall of the McKellar Block in Tiverton; and has a new banner depicting the Bruce 160th Battalion.

The Legion held its Tiverton Remembrance Day service Sunday afternoon at the Cenotaph, with the Kincardine service slated for Wednesday at the Legion.