Branch 25 2025 Legionnaire of the Year: Margaret Krieger

Due to a back order in the plaques from Dominion Command, we were unable to formally present the 2025 Legionnaire of the Year hardware to Comrade Margaret Krieger at our Branch 25 Holiday Luncheon this past December.  Well the plaque has finally arrived, and after getting it engraved, we were finally able to present it to Comrade Krieger.

In the nomination of Comrade Krieger, the nominator wrote:

…this nomination isn’t necessarily for Comrade Krieger’s activities over the past 12 months (as has traditionally been the case), but as a recognition of her annual contribution to the Branch for at least the past decade. …in 2016, Comrade Krieger was the Secretary/Treasurer. During 2017 and 2018 she was the Branch Chaplain…, but in 2019… Comrade Krieger resumed her duties as the Treasurer for the Branch and has continued to perform those duties for the past seven years.

In addition to her executive duties, Comrade Krieger is a regular presenter in our services, often stepping in to fill duties for those who are unable to attend. Simply put, she has been a reliable presence in our Branch. It is for these reasons that I nominate Comrade Margaret Krieger for the 2025 Legionnaire of the Year Award.

Congratulations to Comrade Krieger!

Anzac Day Service 2026

ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day is officially observed by the people of Australia and New Zealand in remembering the first time the two young nations fought together in a major overseas war. This historic event took place in Gallipoli on the Turkish Peninsular on April 25 in 1915 and is commemorated by expatriates, as well as their countrymen at home, acknowledging the sacrifice made by so many then and in subsequent international conflicts. While they wouldn’t join Canada for another 35 years, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment landed in Gallipoli in September 1915 and would fight alongside their ANZAC comrades until the Allied withdrawal in January 1916.

As such, each year Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion joins the Australian American Chamber of Commerce San Francisco (SF Aussies) and the New Zealand American Association of San Francisco (SF Kiwis) to commemorate ANZAC Day.

You can register for the event at https://sfaussies.com/event-6571451

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An urban warfare historian on Canada’s forgotten Battle of Groningen, Part 2

An item from the Legion Magazine.


The Briefing
Weekly Feature

German prisoners are marched away after heavy fighting in the Noorderplantsoen, in the northwest corner of Groningen, Netherlands. [Beeldbank Groningen/Liberation Route Europe]

An urban warfare historian on Canada’s forgotten Battle of Groningen, Part 2

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

Street by street, house by house, canal by canal, the Canadians clawed a foothold into the Dutch city of Groningen. It was April 15, 1945, and despite the German defenders having ceded sizable swaths of urban terrain, the struggle within persisted.

Major-General Bruce Matthews, commander of the attacking 2nd Canadian Infantry Division (along with additional support elements), had finally recognized the stakes. There could be no bypassing Groningen lest its enemy garrison snatch at his heels from the rear. Nor could it be left behind when its 200,000 civilians yearned for liberation. There was only one answer: a full-scale divisional assault lunging into the city from multiple angles. And so, roughly two days into the battle, progress was being made—if not without sacrifice.

READ MORE

Canadian All- Stars Wrist Fob
Weekly Feature
Weekly Feature

HMCS Guysborough was a Bangor-class minesweeper. [Wikipedia]

Adrift in the Bay of Biscay

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

Just after 7:30 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day in 1945, survivors of the minesweeper HMCS Guysborough were in frigid Atlantic waters awaiting rescue. About half of them wouldn’t make it.

Guysborough was about 300 kilometres off the coast of France in the Bay of Biscay en route from Lunenburg, N.S., to England when it was hit in the stern by an acoustic torpedo from U-868 just before 7 p.m. on March 17.

The ship was disabled but did not sink. The crew gathered on the main deck, waiting for a tow. The Germans fired again. The explosion killed two crew, and the ship listed to port.

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