Every year, members of the Royal Canadian Legion in Barrie put in countless hours of preparation in advance of hosting local Remembrance Day ceremonies.
While Nov. 11 is a day dedicated to honouring individuals who fought, and often died, while defending their country's freedom, the local branch is taking that another step further.
It has launched an initiative that would see the names and faces of Simcoe County's Second World War veterans permanently ensconced on flags which will fly atop flagpoles around the St. Vincent Street facility.
The first of three flag banners — honouring vets and former legion presidents Doug Shaughnessy and Frank Tascona, as well as longtime branch member Leo Berard who spent four years as a prisoner of war after Japanese forces took over Hong Kong on Dec. 25, 1941 — were unveiled earlier this fall.
The goal, explained the branch’s public relations officer Steve Glover, is to surround the legion with these flagpoles in order to honour as many local Second World War veterans as possible.
“The City of Barrie has a number of flag banners downtown. They look marvellous and they’re really great. The city more or less honours those that have served the Barrie area. Generally, the rules (for those) is generally the person paid the supreme sacrifice,” he said.
“When we were looking at (ideas) related to the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, which is coming up in May 2025, we wanted to honour that anniversary. One of the ideas was flag banners," Glover added.
That idea has grown since it was first considered, with the goal of getting 20 flag banners which would be located around the perimeter of the legion, he said.
“The reality is, nobody really remembers what happened 80 years ago. Yes, the old guard know, or (people) know a story about their dad or grandfather, but often (people) don’t really know their stories,” said Glover. “These are amazing stories … so how are we going to get them out there?”
The plan is to reach out to the residents of Simcoe County in the hopes they can share the stories of their family member’s service.
“There must be other stories (so we are hoping) they can help us with the stories. We need a good picture and we look to see if we can help fund a flag banner,” he said.
Legion executive member Dave Mills and fellow member Paul Marley are now working to raise money through their connections within the community to purchase additional flagpoles and flag banners
“Paul and I (thought), what could we do? This was one of the few things we could think of. We are going to go out to the community and ask (if they) have the opportunity to donate something for one of our past Barrie or Simcoe County veterans who lived here, went off to war, hopefully came back — or didn’t come back,” Mills said. “It’s all about bringing back some of the history.”
The cost of one flag-pole base, pole and two-sided flag banner is approximately $1,500, said Mills, who, along with Marley, ran the Barrie Baycats for more than two decades. Mills plans to utilize the connections he made over those years to help get this project flying.
“We both have some fairly significant contacts we are hoping to sit down with and say, ‘Hey, we need a flag’ … whereas if you put a brochure downstairs, it could be five or six years to get one flag,” said Mills.
“Knowing it’s the 80th anniversary, knowing it’s that moment in time, we thought this is a thing that we could do. If we only get sufficient funds to do 10 then there will be 10 flags, but those people will be honoured,” added Glover, noting the plan is also to create a digital terminal inside the legion where visitors can look up the name of a veteran and read about their profile.
The flag poles can then also be used to honour the men and women who have served in other conflicts as well, he noted.
“It is a bit ambitious, but it’s our hope that we are going to be able to get (the request) to the community. In many cases, the stories of the guys that survived the war are not online. They’re only online if families have done a tribute,” said Glover.
