Fall 2009 - Royal Canadian Legion

14 T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O FN O V A S C O T I A / N U N A V U T C O M M A N DFall 2009Ladies Auxiliary meets at Br. 19The 44th AnnualLadies Auxiliary meetingwas held at Branch 19,North Sydney. In attendancewere Antigonish,Port Hawkesbury, Florence,Sydney Mines andWestmount.Branch Liaison ComradeEvelyn Hillieroversaw a beautiful roastbeef supper served byour sponsored cadets, 562Cadet Squadron.The meeting wasopened by Branch 19 LAPresident Claudia Drey.Reports were given by allOn June 6, EverettBranch 88 Royal CanadianLegion, Chester Basin, invitedits veterans to attenda roast porkloin dinnerwith all the fixings.Nine of the 17 memberswere able to attendthe event held on the 65thanniversary of D-Day.All veterans received keychains with Support theTroops ribbon and watchface. Service pins werepresented to the following:John Reeves – 10years, All Tarrant – 30years, John Cramsie –branches in attendance.President Care Weallthanked the ladies forcoming and praised thework of the ladies auxiliaries.Guest speaker wasComrade Doris MacDonald,President of the NewWaterford Branch. Shewas introduced by AlaineTaylor, treasurer, who alsopresented her with a smalltoken of appreciation.The 45th Rally will bein Westmount.A dance followed withmusic by MikeWhitty,Executive Member and20 years, Bruce Oxner,Murray Long, MurrayMosher, Ralph Shaw andGlenn Joudrey – 35 years,Charles Taylor, A. NelsonEisner, and Marvin Webber– 40 years, ClarencePeters and Joe Morrison –45 years, Rex Webber – 55years, Clarence Peters andJoe Morrison – 45 years,Earl Zwicker – 65 years.New member Ron Stephensonwas welcomedto the branch at this timeas well.Following the meal andpresentations, the StudioCommunity Officer of562 Cadet Squadron.Bar Town Days inNorth Sydney is held everyyear in July. Each yearthe Royal Canadian LegionBranch 19 sponsorsa Senior’s Tea as part ofthe week-long activities.This year coordinatorBernita Gauthro and theLadies Auxiliary membersdecided to call itRed Friday. Each seniordressed in red received ared carnation. The legionwas awash in red for theoccasion.Br. 88 honours volunteersSingers, under the directionof Dawn Harwood-Jones, presented a shortconcert of appropriatemusical selections to honourthe veterans and theirfamilies.The following weekend,June 13, the LadiesAuxiliary of Branch 88RCL hosted the Zone13 Ladies Afternoon tea.This is an annual eventand 96 ladies were in attendance.Past presidentswere recognized. A travelingplaque was presentedto the branch having thehighest number of attendees– that being LunenburgBranch 23 with 24members present.Various door prizeswere awarded and entertainmentwas providedby Richard Eldridge andFriends, Chester Moss,Milton Spurrell andMyrna Reeves.After the ladies enjoyedthe music and a deliciouslunch, they thanked thehost branch an indicatedthat 2010 would see thegroup gather at the NewGermany branch.David Andrews at his great uncle’s grave in Beny-Sur-Mer.Pilgrimage a highlightContinued from Page 13common sight on the faces of my travellingcompanions and myself too.I have no problem admitting that Ifound it very emotional day after day.I will “try” to explain how emotional Ifound it.At Beny-Sur-Mer, I was standing atattention during the service, and as theservice was progressing my mind wason the uncle I never knew. I thought Iwas doing pretty good controlling myfeelings as this ceremony moved alonguntil it was over and my roommate forthe trip came over and asked if I wasokay. I said that I was, but it had beendifficult standing there with my mindspinning, and I did find it emotional.Steve, who had been in the colourparty standing in front of me, lookedat me and said “ We know it was hardfor you, we could hear you”.I guess I didn’t hide the tears orsniffles as well as I thought.I guess that what I am trying to sayis that this pilgrimage was everything Iexpected and more. This opportunityis one that I will never forget and Ican think of no higher honour that Icould be awarded by the Legion thanthis chance to represent them on thisadventure.I would like to say that havingComrades Jack and Cornelia Hatchertravelling with me was wonderful andto have Jack carry the wreath for me atBeny-Sur-Mer was a true honour.I could not have asked for a bettergroup to tour with. The Commandrepresentatives from each area ofCanada were top notch all the way andI am still in regular contact with them.As a matter of fact, we are planninga reunion next summer to get togetherand share our experiences that we willhave making our presentations.To the Nova Scotia/Nunavut CommandSelection Committee, I cannotsay thank you enough for making meyour choice for this year. To NovaScotia/Nunavut Command, its officersand staff, I say thanks for your encouragementand support.This will always be a highlight of mylife and I will never forget those thathelped make it possible.I look forward to sharing more ofthe trips stories with you all.