In Buena Vista, a series of banners honoring veterans are transforming Magnolia and Sycamore avenues into “Roads of Honor.”
Floyd-Davidson American Legion Post 126 held a ceremony Tuesday morning so that local residents could watch the first two banners go up. Buena Vista public works employees hung the banners from a utility post outside the American Legion’s location on Magnolia Avenue.
Donna Sullivan of the American Legion said the post had 32 Roads of Honor banners printed in this first series of banners, and the city finished hanging 12 of them on Tuesday.
Each banner features a photograph of a veteran and information about their service. Sullivan said the veterans weren’t chosen at random — each had a sponsor submit an application on their behalf.
The vinyl banners are 30 inches wide and 60 inches tall, with photos and text printed on both sides. The city has to affix two metal brackets to a utility pole for every poster. Each banner costs the sponsor $220.
The project has been in the works for several years, Sullivan said. But it wasn’t until March that her husband, Army veteran George Sullivan, came before Buena Vista City Council.
“It took a long time,” she said. The city gave its approval for the banner hanging through a memorandum of understanding with the American Legion.
“We’re grateful, blessed,” Donna Sullivan said. “We can’t thank the city enough for supporting this, partnering with us.”
Skip Ramsey, whose father and grandfather will both appear on banners, said the Roads of Honor project would never have happened without the Sullivans.
“George Sullivan ... he deserves a lot of credit,” Ramsey said. “Him and his wife both.”
The first two banners on Magnolia Avenue recognize two Army veterans of the Vietnam War: Pfc. Robert “Buddy” Coleman Sr., and E-4 Samuel Moore Jr. A crowd of more than two dozen people came to watch their installation.
The American Legion is still accepting applications for banners, Donna Sullivan said. Once the organization receives about 10 more applications, it will place another order to the manufacturer.
Going forward, the organization will hang the banners annually from April until Veterans Day in November.
Those who would like to sponsor a banner can get an application by calling Donna Sullivan at (540) 5700648 or emailing [email protected]. Applications are also available in front of the American Legion post at 1953 Magnolia Ave. in Buena Vista. Sponsors can ask to have a particular veteran recognized or can have one assigned to them.
