Ohio post honors hometown heroes with banners

Sixty banners honoring military heroes will line Veterans Memorial Park’s Loya Parkway in Parma, Ohio, for the next year thanks to the local American Legion post.

American Legion Post 572’s Hometown Heroes Banner program is for local military families to pay tribute to their loved one starting the first week of November through Veterans Day 2019.

The 2-by-4-foot banners will display a veteran’s photo, name, service branch and military service information. The Hometown Heroes Banner display also will celebrate The American Legion’s centennial, which runs through November 2019. 

“It’s a little national pride and gives the residents of Parma an opportunity to honor their neighbors or friends or family members,” said American Legion 13th District First Vice Commander Joe Ruland, a resident of Parma, to Cleveland.com.

Parma resident Jeanne Kellogg purchased a banner for her grandfather, Eugene Payne – a World War II U.S. Army prisoner of war and a Purple Heart recipient.

“By putting (Eugene Payne) on a banner, we not only show appreciation for him and all of his service, but to the city of Parma he called home,” Ruland said.

“(Kellogg) is honored to be a part of this program with so many memories of an amazing man in this city always willing to help anyone who needed it.”

Find American Legion Post 572 on Facebook or on the Legion’s Centennial web page online at        https://centennial.legion.org/ohio/post572.