A photo from February 2015 shows executives of the Kindersley Legion at the time. Left to right, Scott Holloway, Harvey Balderston, Ernie Krepps, Leona Nargang, Don Fuhrman, Patrick Brick, Roger Strutt and David Burke.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
The Kindersley branch of the Royal Canadian Legion has been a fixture in town for several decades and its members continue to be active in the community.
There are several ways to support a community, and joining a service club or fraternal organization is one way to give back. Membership is down for most service clubs, so people could help by joining their local clubs or organizations if they have the time to spare.
Service clubs have done a lot for their communities and several smaller communities would not have different events or amenities without their clubs. Local clubs and organizations are being featured over a series of articles.
The Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League was first established in 1926 and the name was changed to the Royal Canadian Legion in 1960 after Queen Elizabeth II gave her consent to use the word “Royal” in the formal name. The Legion has a network across Canada and the globe.
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David Burke, the sergeant-at-arms for the Kindersley Legion, has been a Legion member for 37 years. He said the Kindersley branch officially received its charter in 1928, but the local branch was first established in 1918 after the First World War.
He explained that veterans of the First World War established the Great War Veterans Association and a local branch was started in 1918. The Great War Veterans Association later merged with other groups to establish the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League. Burke said it has been 90 years since the local branch received its charter, but the branch now has a century of history.
Burke said the Legion Hall in Kindersley was built in 1910 and it was originally a church. He noted that when branches were first established in the 1920s, their buildings were called huts and not halls as they are today. He said the mandate of the Legion has never changed.
“Our mandate is the veterans, the RCMP and the community,” he said, recognizing that Legions across the country are there to serve veterans from all branches of the Canadian Forces in addition to members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The branches not only serve the veterans and RCMP members, but they are also there to serve their families. Burke said the mandate includes service to the community on top of the main goal of serving veterans. The Legion’s focus is on veterans of all conflicts past and present whether it was a war or peacekeeping mission.
Burke said membership requirements have changed over the years and now anyone can become a Legion member regardless of their family’s history of service. The membership requirements have been expanded to keep the organization viable.
Only veterans could be members at one time, and then the wives of veterans could be members of the Legion Auxiliary. Membership was opened up to the veterans’ immediate family members and later to anyone whose family had a history of military service. Membership is now open to any Canadian citizen old enough to vote.
The Legion meets on the first Wednesday of each month at the Legion Hall and the meetings start at 7:30 p.m. The branch is open to new members and people could attend a meeting to find out if the organization is for them.
“If anybody wants to join at all at any time, we welcome them with open hearts and arms,” Burke said, recognizing that all service clubs and fraternal organizations are looking for new members and there are several options for people to get involved.
Burke said the Kindersley Legion took over the hall in 1946 and a building restoration project was completed in 2016. The current president of the Kindersley Legion is Patrick Brick, a younger member of the branch who Burke says has taken the reigns since joining. The Kindersley Legion has 84 members including six new mewmbers in 2018, but not all of those members are active members for various reasons.
He noted that the Legion has its provincial and national networks, but it is also a global organization. According to Burke, the local branch could contact a branch in another part of the country to let it know a veteran is travelling in the area, and the other branch would help the veteran in various ways.
The local branch has done its part to support the community. The Kindersley Legion has supported the local mobility bus, the Kindersley & District Health Centre, local cadet squadron, Remembrance Day services and local students.
Burke said the Legion runs its annual poster and poem contest for local schools. The branch has also supported the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder service dog program under the Wounded Warriors Canada organization and Paws for Veterans. The branch has done well over the years.
“The Kindersley branch has been a successful branch,” Burke said, recognizing that the branch runs its Poppy Drive each year and the branch has joined the Kindersley Community Service Group to help raise money for local projects. “We’ve had our ups and downs.”
He said the Legion will also support veterans that require assistance for trips to seek medical treatment for cancer. The Legion also has curling, golf and billiard tournaments for members and membership is transferable to other branches.
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