Credit goes to the Williamstown Select Board for its decision to approve the placement of Hometown Heroes banners along the Mohawk Trail, from the North Adams line to Cole Avenue. Long overdue is the opportunity for families to pay a company exorbitant amounts of money to commemorate their lost loved ones, or, possibly, their loved ones currently in harm’s way defending America’s National Interests, in a public display of sacrifice.
At the September 28 Select Board meeting, a fairly lengthy debate apparently took place, with at least one resident questioning the military exclusivity represented on the banners. One could argue that a teacher who spends 40 years on the front line of education or first responders who show up when disaster strikes here at home should be candidates for heroic recognition, but that misses the point. Veterans, both living and killed in action, offered up their last measure (or had it offered for them) in defense of Our Way of Life. Whether in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, or, now, Iran, these brave men and women fought, and often died, for causes that, while not always possible to articulate, yet protected democracy here at home and around the world.
As reported in the Berkshire Eagle, dissenters, even veterans themselves, displayed inadequate respect for veterans, going so far as to offer the outrageous suggestion that the issue needed more discussion and should be settled by popular vote in a town meeting. The lone dissenting vote of the five-person Board was cast by lefty firebrand Stephanie Boyd, who expressed the extreme, radical view that “she preferred a smaller, shorter first-year program and clearer details on banner locations,” as reported by the Eagle.
Honestly, how can this memory mile do anything BUT comfort those who have served at risk of becoming one of the 17.7 veteran suicides per day recorded in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2026 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, released just two days after the Select Board vote? Just knowing that motorists drive through this mounted mausoleum at 45 miles per hour will give veterans suffering PTSD and the aches of hard-won physical injuries a desperately needed dose of hope that life may be worth living after all. The muzzle of a pistol will never taste as sweet as the knowledge that their service is commemorated in 6mm vinyl — at least in aggregate, since the fonts are usually poorly chosen and too small to read at speed or distance.
Similarly, these patriotic pennants will be palliative to the ten percent of veterans with diagnosed substance use disorder and the unknown percentage who have yet to be diagnosed. Putting down the bottle or needle will be the obvious course of action once they witness the reverent display flanking Dunkin’, Silver Therapeutics, and Cumby’s.
For the aimless, despondent Gen Zers, doubtful of their ability to secure gainful, meaningful employment and competing with AI for dwindling positions, these banners will be beacons of opportunity. Although the private sector may no longer need their high school diplomas or college degrees, our Armed Forces, the most powerful the world has ever seen, still need their bodies and hair-trigger reflexes, honed by years of first-person-shooter video games.
And it may not even matter whether the public ever identifies the individual names or dates of service or theater of combat in which these haunting faces served. The larger point is that the more miles of America’s roadways we can line with red, white, and blue reminders of fallen heroes, the more we can drive home the importance of what we value in this country. The more our citizens will accept the normalization of the primacy of Our Great and Lethal Military.
And honestly? I can’t think of a single other society in history that placed ubiquitous banners and pennants along city streets reminding its citizenry of the importance of national pride.
