Saxonburg honors its veterans with fresh memorial banners on Main Street
Saxonburg’s Main Street was becoming a little more patriotic in the lead-up to Veterans Day.
A group of volunteers from the borough’s fire department and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars teamed up to line the street with banners paying tribute to the people who served in the country’s armed forces.
Members of VFW Saxonburg Post 7376 and Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company have spent the past week placing memorial banners for 62 of Saxonburg’s finest along Main Street. The goal was to have all 62 banners up by Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
“The Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company donated their time and equipment to help place the banners,” said Morgan Burns, auxiliary president for VFW Post 7376. “Hanging the banners takes time. We have about 10 hours in, with multiple crews and days. We expect to finish with about another five or so hours by Veterans Day.”
According to Burns, the project has been several months in the making and a major collaborative effort involving multiple local businesses, including The Sign Shop Plus, which volunteered to create the design for the banners.
“The Saxonburg VFW worked closely with the borough to get the approvals needed to display the banners over several months,” Burns said. “Together with the volunteered time, we were able to produce and display this first round of 62 banners.”
Funds for the project were raised through a cornhole tournament held in March, as well as the VFW’s annual Golf Outing held at the Saxon Golf Course in August.
At least one banner has been placed in a strategic location — the one for Paul Thoma Jr., who served in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Germany in the 1950s. Thoma’s banner is displayed in front of the meat market on Main Street that bears his family’s name.
According to Burns, the first batch of 62 banners was reserved for those who were either killed in action or charter members of Post 7376 when it was founded in May 1946. However, he said many more banners are soon to come.
“The project is just getting started,” Burns said. “We will hang as many banners as we have interest. We will fill Main Street Saxonburg down to Thoma's. Once Main Street is full, we will move to the side streets in Saxonburg.”
Burns said a process for the public to order banners will be made available in coming months. According to a post on the Saxonburg VFW Facebook page, any armed forces member who has at one time lived in Knoch School District is eligible for a banner, whether active duty or not.
“We are looking forward to the banners being a permanent feature of the Saxonburg community,” Burns said.
