This year’s Remembrance Day Service in Assiniboia was held at St. George’s Parish Hall with the national observance beginning at 10:30 a.m. Comrade Barbara Gilbert read Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields. The national anthem was sung then Veteran Irvin Tubbs announced the wreath laying ceremony.
Just before the community began laying wreaths at the front of the hall, Comrade Irvin Tubbs spoke briefly about what he’d learned after talking with veterans from the First and Second World Wars and Korea in the early 1960s. “Their experiences brought tears to my eyes,” Tubbs said, portraying an era long before PTSD was recognized as a disability for returning combatants.
The preliminary section of the program involved prayers, hymns and goodwill messages from pastors and leaders of the community. Then Chaplain Neil Gilbert spoke on the history of the Royal Canadian and how the organization has continued to assist members of the community in Assiniboia and region. The theme of Gilbert’s message was Love thy neighbour from the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament.
Following the First World War, Gilbert said many groups tried to organize in order to enable and care for returning soldiers from the trenches of Europe, but they were unsuccessful until the 1920s. The first inception of the Royal Legion began in Winnipeg with a lengthy name – the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League. “Quite the mouthful,” Gilbert remarked. The Royal part of the Legion’s name came much later in 1960 when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II gave her consent to use the term in December 1960.
“The main objective of the Legion was to give a strong voice to World War One veterans,” Gilbert said. “And the Legion continues to improve the lives of veterans and RCMP members. It is our duty. We have a wide range of supports for veterans.” Gilbert further expressed how the Legion helps those with financial or health difficulties. The organization has also given additional support to others who are neither veterans or Legion members. “This is how we show our lover for neighbours and the communities.”
Gilbert gave several examples of the Legion’s generosity in south central Saskatchewan. The Assiniboia Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion donated $4,000 to the Grasslands Health Centre in Rockglen in September 2017. Recently, the Legion provided $5000 for the new palliative care and family room in the Assiniboia Union Hospital in late September 2019. The Legion had given close to $44,900 in contributions to seniors, hospitals, care homes and health centres over 10 years in this region. “How are you involved with loving your neighbour?” Gilbert asked the audience, further suggesting one way to show to love is by donating to the Legion’s poppy fund.
