A video shown at the ceremony featured the new veterans included in this year's program. (Angela Brown/BattlefordsNOW staff)  

By Angela Brown

Time for Remembrance

Fred Light Museum 2021 ‘Honour Our Veterans’ banners unveiled

Oct 29, 2021 | 5:05 PM

It was a moving occasion Friday when the Fred Light Museum unveiled the 2021 “Honour Our Veterans” banner program at a ceremony at the Alex Dillabough Centre.

A total of 22 new banners have been sold for this year, which brings the full tally up to 94 banners for the last three years since the program started.

All 94 banners were installed in the Battleford community on Oct. 25 for the 2021 program. The banners will be on display until Nov. 18.

Grant Beaudry, on behalf of Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC), Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nation and the Beaudry family, spoke about his father, veteran Henry Beaudry Sr. who served in the Second World War, and is among those honoured in the banner program this year.

“My father would be very honoured and thankful with a banner, with the Legion and Fred Light Museum [program] today, and that he is being recognized,” he said.

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“With my father, there are so many stories. He lived until he would be 96 years old,” Grant said.

He added his father suffered post traumatic stress disorder from his experiences at war. Grant went on to share some of his father’s stories.

Now in its third year, the “Honour our Veterans” banner program in Battleford is organized by the Fred Light Museum, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 9 in Battleford and the Town of Battleford.

Henry Poundmaker Beaudry and Andrew Inkster are among those honoured. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

Battlefords MLA Jeremy Cockrill and Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie also participated in the ceremony. Leslie took the opportunity to acknowledge members of the RCMP and the Fire Department who attended to show their respects.

Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Rosemarie Falk also spoke at the ceremony.

“Canada has a proud military history of men and women who answered the call to serve,” she said. “These newly added banners, like those that have been raised before, represent family members and community members who have served our country with great distinction.”

The Honour our Veterans 2021 banners are on display in Battleford. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

Elder Jenny Spyglass attended the ceremony to see her father veteran James Spyglass honoured in the program.

“He was 84 years old when he passed away,” she said, adding she was just a baby when her father served with the Canadian Forces in the Korean War.

Jenny said she is touched to have the banner program to honour her father during this period of remembrance.

“I’m proud that my dad is recognized,” she said, adding she still keeps the many medals that he was awarded for his service.

All the banners in the program feature veterans whose families stepped forward to sponsor a banner, covering the costs of the program.

Fred Light Museum manager Bernadette Leslie said it’s great to see the banner program growing and flourishing each year.

“These people are here to honour their family members and that is just fantastic,” she said, adding that plans are to keep the program ongoing into the future.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow