By Sheila Phibbs
The Haldimand Press
JARVIS—As Remembrance Day approaches, the Jarvis Board of Trade (JBT) will be honouring veterans from Jarvis and the surrounding area with banners to commemorate their military service. Twenty banners will hang on the vintage lamp posts located throughout the downtown area and remain on display for the month of November.
This is the second year of the Jarvis Veteran Banner Project, which is being researched and facilitated by Greg Hilton, Bill Cumming, and Jennifer Kelly. Twenty veterans are honoured each year and members of the community are encouraged to contact the JBT if they have relatives or friends who served in the armed forces. Kelly explains, “We continue to ask for help from local families to ensure we don’t miss any veteran.”
Along with the name and a photograph in uniform, information collected on each veteran includes the area of service (Army, Navy, Air Force) and the war, military conflict, or peacekeeping assignment in which he or she served. Information on individuals currently serving is also welcome. This information will be compiled into a booklet documenting the veterans who are honoured and will be available to the families of the veterans as well as students and the Jarvis and Selkirk libraries.
The 20 veterans recognized with banners this year are: Mary Black, Joe Heastont, Albert M. Williamson, Harry Gowan, Harry Reynolds, Robert Otterman, David Winstanley, Harry McKeen, Gary Marshall, John F. Addison, George E. Miller, Merrill Nie, Arthur W. McKeen, Berkley Mitchell, John H. Fleming, James E. Miller, Ron Winstanley, William M. Slaght, Dave Banks, and Gord Best.
World War I veteran Albert M. Williamson (featured in the banner at right) served in the Army from November 1915 to January 1918. He operated the family dairy farm in Jarvis and also served as Postmaster for Jarvis. His granddaughter, Elisabeth Mays, describes him as a very quiet, gentle, mild man, and “a total patriot”. She explains that he was actually in his 30s when he volunteered for the Army and had some health issues but “that didn’t stop him.” She adds that, knowing that farmers wouldn’t be accepted, he put down on the form that he was a Postmaster.
Mays marvels as she considers that her grandfather volunteered to go to war and was at Vimy Ridge. She says, “I have to pinch myself; to imagine him being there at Vimy. Back then you didn’t think about it – you just volunteered to go. He would have served in WWII if he could have. He was a patriot for sure.” Though Williamson never spoke of his war experiences to his grandchildren, Mays says, “We were always quite proud when we were kids that our grandfather served in the war.”
Throughout November, last year’s banners will be displayed at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, and Wesley United Church in Jarvis. The 2019 veterans were: Allan J. Anderson, Leslie Blight, Lorne Porter, Jack V. Cooke, Chester Rogers, Lloyd M. Anderson, James Halcrow, Lea Porter, John W. Whitehead, Melvin Porter, Ralph G. Fess, Ernie Craddock, George Sporbeck, Jim Doughty, J. Bryce Linklater, Arthur W. Genery, Don Phibbs, George Reu, George S. Anderson, and Joseph A. Krauskopf.
According to Kelly, the committee has already started a file for the veterans to be honoured in 2021. She says, “We are very pleased and proud to undertake this project and hope that county residents take time to visit our town as a gesture to honour those from Jarvis and the surrounding communities who served our country.”
Those with information on Jarvis veterans can contact the JBT at
JarvisBdofTrade@gmail.com.
