HADLEY — An additional 28 banners to honor Hadley’s military veterans and current servicemembers, including two Gold Star residents who lost their lives during World War II, will be going up along the town’s streets starting Monday.
Before the new banners join the 139 that were displayed in 2025, the second year of the Hadley Banner Committee program, the North Hadley Sugar Shack is hosting a ceremony to recognize the sponsoring families.
On Sunday, a private event will start at the 181 River Drive site at 11 a.m., followed by a public event at noon with remarks and a presentation by the veterans services officer and others.
Each banner has a photo of the veteran or servicemember, along with the dates of military service, ranging mostly from World War I to current military engagements. The banners have been displayed on utility poles, mostly along Route 9 and Route 47, extending to both North Hadley and the Hockanum section, and sometimes are put in places close to where they or their families have lived.
Pam Hague, who coordinates the Hadley Banner Committee work, said the new Gold Star banners are sponsored by the committee and add to the nine existing Gold Star banners. These fallen soldiers were identified by the Hadley Historical Society and are being honored by the committee because their families no longer live in town.
One is Frank Bak, who grew up in North Hadley and served in the Navy, losing his life in the South Pacific arena in August 1943.
The other is Joseph Bak, also of North Hadley, who served in the Army and died as a prisoner of war in the Philippines in June 1943.
Hague said a niece of Frank Bak is expected to be at the ceremony.
The other new banner sponsored by the committee pays tribute to Joseph Hooker, the American Civil War general who was born in Hadley in 1814 and whose name was on the former Hooker School for many years. That building was demolished to make way for the Hadley Public Library and Hadley Senior Center.
Volunteers from the Department of Public Works and Fire Department will be out putting up the banners, sometimes two per pole, with help from a boom truck loaned by Austen Iglehart Electric. All will be up before Memorial Day and remain until late fall.
The banners will join numerous American flags, including 50 new flags the committee bought.
Hague said people should go to hadleyma.org for more details, with applications opening again in September. Those who have sponsored banners for three years will be offered a chance to renew so the banners can be refreshed.
Former Select Board member Joyce Chunglo, who is also on the committee, said Hadley has stepped up to appreciate those with military service, both past and present.
“It’s a community effort all the way around,” Chunglo said
