People can order banners honoring Leechburg and Gilpin veterans

Orders are now being accepted for Leechburg’s “Hometown Hero” banner program.

Mayor Wayne Dobos, a member of the three-person committee working on the program, said a banner featuring him will be hung by the Leechburg municipal building in the near future. This will allow people to see what the banners will look like before they order them.

“That way they got an example,” said Dobos, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army. “They can see it life size.”

The banners, honoring veterans or active military service members, will be put on telephone poles along the borough’s Market and Main streets. They will be available to people living in Leechburg and Gilpin.

Tarentum-based Gray Sign Advertising is creating the banners. They cost about $140.

Order forms are available at Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market in Leechburg, the Leechburg municipal building, the Leechburg Public Library and on the Gray Sign’s website.

The committee isn’t accepting order forms, Dobos said. People who order the banners are responsible for taking, mailing or emailing their own order forms to Gray’s, he said.

“Each person has to do their own,” Dobos said.

The heavy vinyl, red, white and blue banners will be 30-by-60 inches and contain a 22-by-27-inch picture of the veteran, which will be surrounded by a gold border. There will be an American flag behind the veteran’s picture. Under the picture will be the veteran’s branch of service and their name.

A space below the veteran’s name will be left open for medals or accolades the veteran has received, such as a Purple Heart, or where the veteran served.

If people choose to put medals on the banners, they have to prove the veteran received them, Dobos said.

Dobos said the committee extended the offer to Gilpin because the township “doesn’t have any place to hang their signs.”

The committee hopes to get the banners up by Veterans Day in November.