“It’s been such a successful program,” said Chris Haynes, chair of the Hamilton Veterans Committee Hall of Fame, which inducted around 20 members Sunday at The Washington Center on NW Washington Boulevard. “From the positive comments we’ve gotten from people, whether they live here now or moved away and still want to recognize their loved ones, it’s just been a tremendous outpouring of pride.”
For those veterans, service members or family members of those who have died, applications are now being accepted for the banner class of 2025 until the end of February. The program is a collaboration of the city of Hamilton, Hamilton Community Foundation and the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. For those who aren’t technologically savvy, can get hardcopies of the application from the city administrative offices, the community foundation and the chamber.
The application does require documentation and proof of service, and there’s a $180 fee, which covers the cost of the banner’s production. But Hamilton Councilman Tim Naab, a member of the Hometown Heroes Banner Committee and whose number is on the application, said someone can help people work through the process.
The inaugural year of the program in 2023 saw 126 vinyl banners, 80-inch-by-30-inch, were hung on poles on selected streets around the city. This year, nearly 230 more banners were hung, and Haynes believes there could be as many as 200 more created in 2025 based on calls fielded by committee members over this past year.
Banners from the previous two classes, and the class of 2025, will be installed over the course of several weeks ahead of Memorial Day.
Naab said each year has gotten better, calling the response in the first two years “amazing,” and said the program “has taken on a life of its own.”
“It’s incredible the amount of calls that I’ve fielded these past few months, including three more (on Thursday),” he said. “The near and dear loved ones who want to continue the honor in the patriotic way Hamilton’s embraced in this program is really cool.”
He said he’s fielded calls from coast to coast, which “is really cool.” He recalled a call from a veteran and former Hamiltonian now living in Phoenix, Arizona, who wanted a banner, and just the other day, someone from North Georgia called him.
Those honored are either from or formerly from Hamilton, and the oldest soldiers honored were in the 2024 class and served during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
All banners have a three-to-five-year lifecycle because they are cleaned and stored during the harsh weather of the winter months.
Those Hamiltonians killed in action will continue to be honored along the High-Main Bridge, including the off-ramp onto Park Avenue and the on-ramp from Ross Avenue. There are 19 total being honored, which included the 11 banners installed last year.
One issue Haynes and Naab said the committee never thought they’d have to address was the multiple wind and rain storms which caused banners to fly off the fixtures. Any found banner can be returned to the Hamilton Police Department so they can be cleaned and stored for the winter and re-installed with the others in 2025.
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