This story is a part of Branch 25’s on-going National Legion Week campaign.

As it was noted in the National Legion Week: The Story of Branch 25 (San Francisco), there used to be a number of branches of the Royal Canadian Legion in Northern California.  One of those branches was Branch 113 (Berkeley).  According to the Tuesday, May 3, 1938 edition of the Oakland Tribune the official charter was awarded on that day, and H. C. Billings was the first official Commander of the post.

Almost one year later, the Sunday, March 5, 1939 edition of the Oakland Tribune reported that the second election of officers was scheduled to take place the following month and that Maurice Drucquer was slated to succeed Billings as the post’s Commander.

While there are numerous other newspaper references to Branch 113 (Berkeley), almost all of them are either noticed of monthly business meetings or reminders that the Canadian Legion was available to provide assistance to veterans in the area (like these examples from the Oakland Tribune in 1939 or the Berkeley Daily Gazette in 1940).

Interestingly, Branch 113 (Berkeley) is one of the only closed branches in Northern California that we have physical artifacts from.  One of our late members passed on this old wooden Walford Marquise Invincible Tobacco box.

Inside of the box were these printing press pieces.

One of the more detailed sources of information that we have about Branch 113 (Berkeley) comes from the Northern California Pipe Bands That Have Faded Into History, which wrote:

BERKELEY POST NO. 113 CANADIAN LEGION PIPE BAND
Tartan: 1) Royal Stewart

2) Hunting MacPherson

Pipe Majors: Schwan

No idea when this was formed. It was operating in the early 50’s though as the dates on the photos show. The band met in the basement of the Berkeley Veteran’s Memorial Building on Center Street and was loosely sponsored by the Legion. No (or little) funds but the occasional job or recommendation for a job. They were poor – so was the band. Old, Royal Stewart kilts, ancient drums and that was about it for equipment. Everything else you bought yourself. The main source of income was a dinner that the band put on once a year in the dining room of the Vet’s Building. Perhaps two or three performances.

The band was, as the photos show, tiny. It never got any bigger as I recall. It neither played or drilled well but no one seemed to care about that much at the time. Eventually enough money was on hand to buy new “Hunting” MacPherson kilts which were the flimsiest material ever seen on the face of the earth. Grey and ugly too.

John Short and Don Fiddes quit the band in 1956 or so to join the Caledonian Band in San Francisco and I followed them about six months later when it became clear that the Berkeley band was soon to collapse and there would be a chance to continue playing at a higher level.

The first drum instructor was an old WWI Scottish vet named Gordon Muir, who may well have played with the MacFarlane Band along with “Brick” Johnson and Archie MacLennon (both eventually at Piedmont High) who later became the organizer/promoter and piping instructor (respectively) there. [by Rick Coffee]

Below was a picture that we found for sale on eBay.  Note the writing on the drum in the background.

There are additional images of the Berkeley pipe band on the Northern California Pipe Bands That Have Faded Into History website.  Later this week our own Pipe Major, Charles Martin, will have a piece on the role of pipe bands in the Canadian Legion in California.

At some point in the 1950s or 1960s, Branch 113 (Berkeley) began to meet and drill with Branch 15 (Oakland), and at some point later it gave up its charter altogether.  We don’t know exactly when this occurred, but members of Branch 113 (Berkeley) eventually became part of Branch 25 (San Francisco).  Interestingly, the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley has a collection that is entitled “Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League records : San Francisco, Calif., 1939-1943.”  It is described as:

Contains mostly correspondence sent to the adjutant generals of the San Francisco chapter (Post No. 25) of the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League from various other dignitaries and civic, government, military, and service organizations dedicated to supporting military personnel. Correspondence includes invitations to events, recognition of services performed, awards, etc. Includes one folder of correspondence sent from other Canadian Legion posts in California including: Contra Costa (Post No. 138), Marin County (Post No. 30), Oakland (Post No. 15), Peninsula (Post No. 52), San Jose (Post No. 35), Petaluma (Post No. 57), Hayward (Post No. 114), and Stockton (Post No. 34). Also includes some correspondence from the Legion’s main office, Dominion Command in Ottawa Canada. Also includes receipts for subscriptions to British Empire Digest, a monthly publication of the Canadian Legion, B.E.S.L., articles, and a printed leaflet, prepared by Dr. Graham Stuart of Stanford University, summarizing the third report of the “Commission to study the organization of peace” and the potential for a United Nations organization.

Even though the collection covers the period 1939 to 1943, as you can see there is no reference Branch 113 (Berkeley).