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

The Royal Canadian Legion has a long and valued partnership with Cadets Canada, and branches from all across the country regularly sponsor cadet programs. The Cadet program fosters youth leadership, citizenship, and volunteerism and promotes Canadian and military values.  Cadets volunteer to help the Legion with the Poppy Campaign, support our Veterans and take active roles in commemorative ceremonies across Canada. These young men and women play a vital role in supporting Legion activities and promoting Remembrance. In return, Legion branches provide financial support to help them grow.  The Royal Canadian Legion also sponsors the Cadet Medal of Excellence, which honours outstanding Cadets. It is awarded in recognition of individual endeavors in citizenship which enhance the aims and objectives of the cadet movement.

Branch 25 (San Francisco) is the ONLY branch of the Royal Canadian Legion outside of Canada who sponsors a cadet program.  With the two letters below from 1995, Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion began its sponsorship of  the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps (USNSCC) Arkansas Division.

Click on either image to access a PDF of these letters.

In his initial proposal to the branch, Comrade Rutledge wrote that the relationship between the two organizations was natural, as it was quite common for Legion branches in Canada to sponsor a local cadet corps. At the time, then Commanding Officer Lt. Lee Smith wrote that this affiliation would assist the cadets in participating to the fullest in the many training opportunities available to them.

Over the past three decades the USNSCC Arkansas Division has been a vital source of human resources for the various services and activities of the Branch 25.

Similarly, Branch 25 has continued to provide annual funding for the USNSCC Arkansas Division, as well as present the Royal Canadian Legion’s Cadet Medal of Excellence each year to a deserving cadet.

Finally, each year our USNSCC Arkansas Division participate in the Wreaths Across America ceremony held at the National Cemetery at the Presidio of San Francisco to remember and honor our veterans through the laying of remembrance wreaths on the graves of our country’s fallen heroes and the act of saying the name of each and every veteran aloud.  Each year Branch 25 supports the cadet’s efforts to sponsor individual wreaths and Branch 25 members also attend the event to show our appreciation for all of the times the cadets help support the branch’s services.