The names of military veterans will move in the air over Fort Frances throughout November.
That is, the names and photos of soldiers alive and dead who served in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, and peacekeeping missions and emblazoned on remembrance banners are again displayed on utility poles throughout town.
Veronica Davis is the office manager at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 29 in Fort Frances. She had seen similar banners displayed in New Brunswick a few years ago and thought such banners would fit well locally.
So Davis approached Roseanne Farmer at Times Printing in 2023 with the idea and a means to honour veterans was borne. Farmer, who works in design and sales at the printer, came up with an idea that was presented to the Legion executive and eventually carried to Legion members and their families.
Wartime sacrifices and selfless service to country seems to be something felt by a large slice of the Fort Frances community. To wit, Farmer’s great-uncle Burt Rissman was a Second World War tank commander who was fatally injured when his tank was fired on during the raid on Dieppe on May 25, 1944. He died the next day and is buried in Italy.
An initial run of perhaps 25 banners was expected the first year. But as many as 65 were made. About 174 memorial banners will have been made in the time since that first outing. And Davis expects more banners will be installed throughout town in the years to come.
“The town didn’t even have enough hangers so some had to be hung up in windows at downtown businesses as well as inside the Legion itself,” Farmer said.
Fort Frances Power Corporation (FFPC) staff and linemen do the pole work each year to hang the veterans’ likenesses. The power corp volunteers each year to raise the banner, maintain them, and then take them down, and this year had assistance from ML Caron Electric, who donated the use of their lift truck to help get the banners raised.
This year the Legion wanted to do something to honour the veterans that didn’t come home, Davis said. Those sons of Fort Frances who died in the First World War no longer have family in the area so the Legion’s local branch bought banners to recognize their sacrifice.
“They did the ultimate sacrifice,” Davis said.
“None of the bodies were brought back to Canada. The Second World War bodies were brought back. But those (First World War fatalities), they’re all buried overseas.”
Nine of them.
Nobody wanted those sacrifices to be forgotten.
“This was something that the Legion initiated and paid for themselves,” Farmer said.
“The rest of the banners have been paid for by family members honouring their loved ones.”
Among those recognized on banners throughout town are three woman who served on peacekeeping missions. The Crowe family had eight seven sons and a daughter who served. Margaret Crowe was an ordinance officer in the Second World War.
Farmer said there’s reports of a husband and wife that served. Their names are Lin and Jean Boileau. Lin’s brother Louis also picked up arms in the war.
“I’m guessing he met her over in England where she was serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and she was also one of the war brides,” Farmer said.
Farmer said it’s an impressive sight to see so many banners commemorating such commitment.
“Driving from the main cemetery all the way down to the waterfront, it’s around a six kilometre drive and in a few places they are either on both sides of the road or doubled up on the poles in order to accommodate them all,” she said.
