cp24.com

(Image courtesy of Vincent Powers of Sears Canada.)

View larger image A young soldier, who got married Tuesday, stops to sign the banner. (Image courtesy of Vincent Powers of Sears Canada.)

On the same day that the bodies of three Canadian soldiers arrived in Toronto, hundreds of well-wishers lined up at the Eaton Centre to sign a cross-country banner for our troops that will make its way to Afghanistan.

Toronto was the final stop for the Operation Wish Banner, which has thousands of signatures and hundreds of photos of families and friends wanting to send their best wishes to soldiers abroad during the holiday season.

Sears Canada sponsored the initiative. Sears' director of communications Vincent Power says the banner was split into two parts that travelled to cities in the east and west before coming together in Toronto on Tuesday.

"The banner visited six locations in all where Canadian forces are based close by - where they would have a number of troops deployed at this time of year," he says.

Power says the 16 foot by four foot banner is completely full of messages, with people filling the back of it as well.

"Canadians just seem to want to reach out to our troops. It's about 'we know you're over there, we know it's the holidays and it must be terrible to be separated from your families,'" he says.

Eight families who sent in their photos for the banner in September showed up to send their best wishes.

Power says one of the best stories of the day was when a young Canadian soldier in full uniform and his new bride stopped to sign the banner.

"As people starting speaking to them, we find out that they had just gotten married at city hall and were walking through the Eaton Centre on their way to lunch with their parents," he says.

The arrival of banner in Toronto on the same day that the bodies of the three latest Canadians killed in Afghanistan came home is coincidental, Power says.

"It's a sad turn of events, but many people came up to us today saying it's more important now than ever now to get these messages to our troops abroad."

The banner will now travel to CFB Trenton where the military will ship it to Kandahar just in time for Christmas.