Sarnia, Ont., puts faces to names and names to houses in fallen war heroes sign project

Real estate-sized signs are up across the southwestern Ontario border city of Sarnia, Ont., to keep alive the memory of fallen soldiers from the area.

The Sarnia War Remembrance Sign Project is designed to put faces to names, and names to houses where theheroes once lived.

Roughly 250 soldiers and their homes were identified, using the city's cenotaph at Veterans Park.

One of the project's organizers, Tom St. Amand, says homes still stand at 172 of the addresses and 120 of those are the original buildings.

St. Amand says the other 80 or so soldiers are linked to homes that no longer exist and are now things such as high rises, parking lots or businesses.

"We made the decision that we would put them very close to the Legion in Centennial Park, which is along the shore of the St. Clair River," he said.

"And we will have them designed in rows to replicate a military cemetery."

According to St. Amand, about30 volunteers put up the signs. They interactedwith around 25 homeowners directly.

"If a homeowner is sitting on a porch and sees you looking at him or her and the house, 'What are you doing there?' They were very receptive to the idea. They were surprised, but they were pleased to be part of the project. They felt very proud to be part of the project, to be honest."

The sign includes a background of the Tommy Soldier that sits atop the Sarnia Cenotaph in Centennial Park with a QR code that givesan information link to a domain city hall put up.

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"That really brings you to all the biographies of the soldier, a map of where they lived and a video, as well as a bit about the project," said St. Amand.

"They state the information of the person's age, where he fell, where he is buried, or where he is memorialized if his body was not found."

A couple of people have heard rumours that there had been a fallen soldier who had lived at their house, he said, but they didn't know for sure.

"We were able to confirm that for them. Some of them were very, very surprised. They had no idea."

Family ties

Ray Kapteyn's uncle is one of the soldiers who has been honoured with a sign.

George Esser died in the Netherlands in the Second World Warwhen he was 19 years old, and wasburied there.

Kapteyn volunteered his time to help with the project to deliver signs, and says it's a great way to help honour fallen soldiers.

"It's just overwhelming," he said. "It's unimaginable what we owe these people. These are real people, real kids and brothers and sisters. It's amazing."

Kapteyn says the project forces people to remember who made the ultimate sacrifice,calling it an effective and powerful way of honouring veterans.

"I think it's easier now that we have less and less veterans to kind of forget about that these are real people. To see faces on signs in front of houses, it helps everyone to realize that these were real people with jobs and careers and families that gave up everything to go overseas to fight the oppressive Nazis."

Kapteyn's mother came along when her brother's sign was being erected.

She's the youngest of ten children, and was only a toddler when he died, so she doesn't really have many memories of him.

"She's shown a great amount of appreciation. She was very receptive to the whole project. I think it means a lot to her to really honour veterans in the way they've been doing it."

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All of the signs will be taken down the day after Remembrance Day and stored over the winter.

"We'd like to do the same thing next year, if it receives a favourable reaction from the community."

St. Amand says another 50 soldiers will be marked next year, ones who don't have an address attached to their names, meaning they'llalso have signs placed in their honour at Centennial Park.