Thirty Soldiers in My Workroom

A last-minute call from the township we live in. They asked me to sew banners. People had ordered them to honor their loved ones who served in the armed forces of the United States. The banners will be displayed on street lamps from Memorial Day through Veterans Day to both, celebrate, and remind the community of their dedication to our country.

What’s there to sew on a banner? I wondered.

“Just sew a 3″ loop in the banner,” the young man explained to me and I nodded quietly. “Please, bring them by and let me look at it,” One hour later thirty soldiers found their way into my workroom.

The Military Hero Banner Program was created to pay tribute to the brave men and women who are serving, have served, or have given their lives in the United States Armed Forces. The banners show the service person’s name, a photo, the military branch and rank, and a star.

The young man stopped by and showed me the banners and the LOOP, also added that I needed to sew a hemline on the sides. Each banner, double-printed and a whopping 60″ long and 20″ wide had to be folded in the middle so that both sides showed the same print. On top and on the bottom they needed a 3″ pocket sewn into (THE LOOP), so a pole could be inserted. Both open sides needed to be sewn together, so the wind could not go through.

And so thirty soldiers found their way into my workroom.

The first banners I sewed absent-minded. I didn’t pay attention to the soldiers but rather to the project. It wasn’t as simple as it had seemed at first, but it wasn’t complicated either. After banner #5 I was in the GROOVE.

Every banner ended with the sentence THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.

The pictures were different. I could tell what time, or which war, the soldiers had been in. Old black and white pictures with old uniforms for WWI and WWII, the Vietnam war, followed by the wars in the Middle East.

Three types of banners:
Active Duty- designated with a Blue Star.
Veteran – Honorably discharged designated with a White Star.
Memorial – Those who have died in the line of duty designated with a Gold Star.

I thought the soldiers deserved to get my attention and so I read the names out loud, with mixed feelings.

I don’t like war, I suppose nobody does. But, while wish we would GIVE PEACE A CHANCE, I also know that some wars are inevitable. I will be for always grateful for the countries that stopped Hitler and the Naxi regime. Where would this world be if Russia, the UK, France, and the USA would not have succeeded?

I wish we would all would come together now and stop Putin, but we can’t, most likely it would start WWIII and nobody wants that, even though many fear we are close.

It was an honor to ‘meet’ the soldiers in my workroom. A few days later, when I drove by a lamppost that showed one of the banners I nodded quietly like I had just seen an old friend.

I like the way we honor the soldiers in our township. I am glad not all have lost their lives.