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

James (“Jim”) Baldwin
Ordinary (Veteran) Member since 2013

While Jim was born in New York City, he didn’t grow up there. His father accepted an overseas assignment in Panama and thus began his family’s travel adventures in Trinidad, the Philippines, Canada, Colombia, and Mexico City.  Jim also had the honour to serve his country as a Hospital Corpsman in the United States Navy working with student Naval Aviators and other flight personnel, and as a reservist.  During the Persian Gulf War, he was called to active duty and served aboard the USNS Mercy, T-AH 19, a hospital ship that included a Canadian Armed Forces contingent.

Jim’s mother was from a small town in Ontario called Mono Township, and after legislation passed in April 2009 allowing the child of a parent and/or parents born in Canada to become a Canadian citizen he officially became a Canadian in 2010.  Jim joined the Legion after becoming a Canadian citizen as a way to continue to serve alongside his Canadian comrades.

Membership in USA Branches is only open to Canadian citizens and Commonwealth subjects, as well as United States citizens, who are of federal voting age and whose service was terminated under conditions other than dishonourable or for reasons of misconduct and who served or is serving in:

• His Majesty’s Forces in any conflict in which Canada was involved;
• the Forces or Underground Forces of any of His Majesty’s Allies in any conflict in which Canada was involved;
• the United Nations or Commonwealth police action in Congo, Gaza, Cyprus or in any other area that may be specified by Dominion Command;
• the Forces of the United States and who is the parent, spouse or child of a person who is or was eligible to be an ordinary member; or
• the Forces of the United States in a theatre of war under the command of a Commonwealth Naval, Military or Air Force Commander, for not less than three months.

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

Branch 25 (San Francisco) of the Royal Canadian Legion holds three formal Remembrance services each year.

As a US-based branch, the first service that is held each year is an annual Memorial Day service at the Royal Canadian Legion plot in Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma, CA.  The service is usually held on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, depending on the availability of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps (USNSCC) Arkansas Division (who support all of our services).  Generally speaking, the Legion hosts our USNSCC Arkansas Division cadets, along with friends and family, for a small reception immediately following.  More information can be found here.

The second service that is held each year began out of necessity during the pandemic, when the branch hosted a Commemoration Day Virtual Service on 01 July 2020.  You see the first of July 1916 was the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, when 806 members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment climbed out of their trenches and went “over the top” at 8:45am as part of the battle of Beaumont-Hamel. In less than an hour, the regiment was devastated, most killed or wounded within the first 20 minutes of the battle. The next morning, only 68 soldiers answered the roll call. Each year since 2020 Branch 25 has continued to plan and stream online their annual Commemoration Day Virtual Service on the morning of 01 July.  As a virtual event, this service provides an opportunity for our members who are not in the Bay Area or have difficulty traveling to our other event an opportunity to get involved in the branch from the comfort of their own home.  More information can be found here.

The third service that Branch 25 holds each year is an annual Remembrance Day Service at Liberty Cemetery in Petaluma, CA.  To accommodate our USNSCC Arkansas Division cadets and the reality that most school systems do not close on Veterans Day, the service is held around 11am on the Saturday before 11 November (unless 11 November falls on a Saturday).  Following the service there is generally a no host lunch that all are invited to attend.  More information can be found here.

Finally, Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion also regularly participates other remembrance activities related to Commonwealth veteran organizations or services.  For example, the branch has been involved for many years in the annual ANZAC Day commemoration ceremonies organized by the Australian American Chamber of Commerce and the New Zealand American Association of San Francisco.  While April 25th 1915 is traditionally seen in Australia and New Zealand as the defining event that shaped both nations futures, we also reflect on the other nations involved in the failed Gallipoli campaign. There were 115,000 British and Dominion troops and 27,000 French killed in action or wounded in this futile attempt to gain access to the Dardanelles.  The connection with Canada is a strong one as the Newfoundland regiment fought alongside their ANZAC comrades from Sept of 1915 until the withdrawal of Allied troops in January 1916. While not yet part of Canada at the time, the Newfoundlanders were amongst the first to volunteer for Britain in the First World War.  We lay a wreath on behalf of the Legion and our President gives a short speech acknowledging the connection with Canada and our remembrance of all who served.

Trevor Page, Sergeant-at-Arms
Branch 25 (San Francisco)

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

Trevor Page
Ordinary (Veteran) Member since 2022

Trevor is a native of New Zealand, and served ten years in the Royal New Zealand Engineer corps and the Royal New Zealand Infantry from 1972 to 1982. The highlight of his service was a two year posting to Singapore in 1979 as part of New Zealand Force South East Asia.  Later, in 1991 Trevor and his wife moved to Hawaii, where he had the honor of serving as the Facilities Operations Director on the Battleship Missouri [BB63] in Pearl Harbor until 2011.

Trevor has been a member of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association for 42 years, and he expressed excitement to find out that the Royal Canadian Legion accepted members from all across the Commonwealth.  In particular, Trevor joined to continue his own support of veterans – especially to represent the Bay Area’s ANZAC veterans.  As a Commonwealth veteran he also expressed his support the mission of the Legion in looking after the veterans of Canada, the Commonwealth, and NATO.

Ordinary (Veteran) membership is open to any Canadian citizen or Commonwealth subject who is of federal voting age and whose service was terminated under conditions other than dishonourable or for reasons of misconduct and who served or is serving in:

• the Canadian Forces or His Majesty’s Forces, including Regular or Reserve Forces under class “C” service;
• the Forces or Underground Forces of any of His majesty’s allies in any war, conflict or police action in which Canada was involved (Provincial or Dominion Command approval is required for underground service);
• an actual theatre of war in any of the non-military services, during any war in which Canada was involved (i.e. Merchant Navy);
• His Majesty’s Reserve Forces including Cadet Instructors on Cadet Cadre, for not less than one year;
• The Royal Canadian Mounted Police or The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, for not less than one year;
• the Forces of a country while that country was a member of NATO or NORAD in alliance with Canada;
• the Forces of the United States;
• the Vietnam War in the Forces of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea or South Vietnam and who was a Canadian citizen or Commonwealth subject at time of service;
• the Canadian Coast Guard as an officer or crew member, and who has two or more years of active service on the high seas or inland waterways; or
• a city, municipal or provincial police force, as a police officer, for not less than one year.

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

Joan Para
Ordinary (Veteran) Member since 2000

Joan is Branch 25’s last remaining World War II veteran.  She was born in 1924 in Lowestoft, England.  Following aptitude testing in Honiton, Devon to determine to which jobs they would be best suited, Joan was assigned to Army Communications during World War II.  She then went on Bradford, near Leeds, for training and was eventually stationed in London, near Buckingham Palace.  Joan served from from 1942 to 1946.

Joan joined Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion around 2000 as an Ordinary (Veteran) member.  She was originally a member of the Women’s section of the San Francisco post of the Royal British Legion (a post which was founded in spite of the fact that there was already a branch of the Royal Canadian Legion).  When that section closed due to a lack of membership, Joan joined the Royal Canadian Legion to get involved with the social aspects of the branch.  Joan will be 100 years old in January.

Ordinary (Veteran) membership is open to any Canadian citizen or Commonwealth subject who is of federal voting age and whose service was terminated under conditions other than dishonourable or for reasons of misconduct and who served or is serving in:

• the Canadian Forces or His Majesty’s Forces, including Regular or Reserve Forces under class “C” service;
• the Forces or Underground Forces of any of His majesty’s allies in any war, conflict or police action in which Canada was involved (Provincial or Dominion Command approval is required for underground service);
• an actual theatre of war in any of the non-military services, during any war in which Canada was involved (i.e. Merchant Navy);
• His Majesty’s Reserve Forces including Cadet Instructors on Cadet Cadre, for not less than one year;
• The Royal Canadian Mounted Police or The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, for not less than one year;
• the Forces of a country while that country was a member of NATO or NORAD in alliance with Canada;
• the Forces of the United States;
• the Vietnam War in the Forces of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea or South Vietnam and who was a Canadian citizen or Commonwealth subject at time of service;
• the Canadian Coast Guard as an officer or crew member, and who has two or more years of active service on the high seas or inland waterways; or
• a city, municipal or provincial police force, as a police officer, for not less than one year.

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).