Just in time for Veterans Day, Windsor has become the second city in Sonoma County to put up large banners to honor active members of the military.
The color photos and names of 17 servicemen and women were attached to light poles Monday and Tuesday at the Windsor Civic Center.
The program was authorized by the Town Council last year to showcase armed forces members who either live in Windsor or have family members in town.
It's intended to honor their commitment and make sure they are not overlooked.
"People are out there serving. Not everyone knows who they are, or where they are. In a time of war, it's easily forgotten," said Graham Rutherford, whose son, Marine Lance Cpl. Edward Rutherford, 21, is one of those featured.
"They're real people risking their lives for us," said Rutherford, who noted that his son served in Kandahar province in Afghanistan last spring, in a mobile artillery vehicle.
Although the young mechanic and rifleman is currently at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, his father said there is a good chance he will return to Afghanistan next year.
Graham Rutherford, principal of Cardinal Newman High School and a former chairman of the Windsor Parks and Recreation Commission, is credited with helping to bring the military banners to Windsor, after hearing of a similar program in Rohnert Park.
Individual banners are displayed as long as the person is on active duty and after that will be presented to relatives, or the service member.
Veterans groups and sponsors so far have raised $3,800 to pay for banners in Windsor and more than 250 people showed up on Sunday to attend a "Hometown Heroes Military Banner Ceremony," according to Jeannie Mitchell, Windsor Parks and Recreation spokeswoman.
Families of those portrayed on the banners attended the ceremony at the Huerta Gymnasium, along with veterans groups, town and county officials.
The Windsor Children's Community Choir supplied a bugler and sang the hymns for each branch of the military.
The banners encircled the inside of the building and brief biographical information was read for each of the 17 service members honored.
Rutherford described the event as "American patriotism in a loving, caring way, not jingoist."
"For those of us attracted to Windsor for its small-town flavor and family values, this speaks to all of that," Mitchell said Wednesday.
"It was very moving," said Dana Higgins, whose son Kyle, 25, is highlighted on a banner. "It was awesome, a wonderful thing."
Her son, an Eagle Scout and graduate of El Molino High School, is serving as a specialist in the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy.
"Knowing Kyle, he would probably be embarrassed" by the attention, she said. "I'm as proud as can be."
She even discovered through the banner program some of her son's friends, who also are serving in the military, including one who was in kindergarten with him.
"It means a lot to let the community know they're serving in this way," she said.
"No one knows what the mother of a soldier goes through," said Mitchell, who said parents are grateful to get some recognition for their son or daughter.
One set of parents, Doris and James Phillips of Windsor, were singled out for their four children plus two in-laws serving on active duty.
The Parks and Recreation department is accepting applications as well as donations to erect more banners.
The town is tentatively planning to display more next year, by Memorial Day.
More information is available at www.townofwindsor.com/hometownheroes.
You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.
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