Bedford unveils new veteran banner design

BEDFORD, N.Y. - If all goes as planned, the military service of anyone now living in Bedford as well as residents currently on active duty will be celebrated this fall with the kind of banners that till now have only been seen in other towns.

Unlike those other banners, however, there’ll be no picture of the service member, and that’s for a good reason.

The veterans don’t want them.

"We designed the banners based on input from veterans,” said Clark Petschek, who chairs  Bedford’s Veterans Advisory Committee, “and the overwhelming majority preferred not to have their photos included.”

The banners, about 40 of them, are scheduled to fly along a stretch of Route 117 in Bedford Hills from Sept. 20 through Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

Supervisor Ellen Calves, in a memo to the Town Board last month, said the town “wishes to publicly honor and recognize the dedication, sacrifice and service of its residents.”

At the board’s May 20 meeting, Councilwoman Bobbi Bittker displayed a prototype of the banners. They will include town and veterans’ names in white lettering on a deep-blue background as well as the military branch or branches and, where applicable, the conflicts in which the veteran served.

But no pictures, Bittker said, because “if there were going to be photos on [the banners], people said they would not do it.”

Neither Bittker nor Petschek cited any specific objections voiced by surveyed veterans.

“People said they would be happy to do it with names [only], so this is what it would look like,” Bittker said, unfurling a sample flag. “People seemed pretty happy with this prototype.”

Alerted through word of mouth, emails and town newsletters, almost 40 veterans so far have asked to be on a banner and Petschek believes that number will grow. “I expect that once the banners are displayed in the fall,” he said, “we will have additional interest for the following year.” Anyone who is interested can email the committee at veterans@bedfordny.gov.

The banners—double-sided “so you could see them coming from either direction,” Bittker said—will hang on NYSEG utility poles on Bedford Road (Route 117). Flying two to a pole, they will be on display for some three-quarters of a mile, from 117’s intersection with Cherry Street near town hall and running north to Nottingham Road.

“We were being very careful to be sure [the typography] was legible so we didn’t have a lot of traffic backing up on 117 because people were trying to read,” Bittker said. “That was the issue.”

A pedestrian walkway parallels Bedford Road, leading Calves, who recently completed a 100-mile walk for charity, to observe, “It’ll be nice to walk along the path and see [the banners] as well.”