The Royal Canadian Legion has approximately 600,000 members with 1,720 branches throughout Canada, the U.S.A. and Germany. In January 1947, some 30 WWI and WWII veterans met in Bud Water's Barber Shop to pursue the formation of a Tamworth Branch of the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League. In February 1947, the first meeting to form a branch took place in the Town Hall. A provisional Executive was appointed consisting of: R.K. Stinson, President; E.G. Richmond, Sec/Treas; and Executive Members; C.L. Wager, N.L.B. Coburn and Harold Davison. Thus Branch 458 of The Royal Canadian Legion was formed.

On the anniversary of D-Day Branch 458 hosts nine other branches from the zone in its celebration.

Our colour party seen rounding the corner onto Concession Street in Tamworth. Sgt-at-arms Pat Kitchin, Robert Lalonde and Ken Yeomans smartly lead members to the Cenotaph.

The Picton Legion Pipe Band leads the march in the D-Day parade to the Cenotaph. Third from the left, Tamworth's own John Macmillan can be seen playing the bag pipes.

Soldiers of today and yesterday seen here together at Tamworth Cenotaph with flags and heads lowered during the playing of the last post.

After all the wreaths have been laid and the people have left, there is a time of peace and reverent silence at the cenotaph.

The Legion Hall is open to all for a luncheon after the Remembrance Day ceremony.

One of the original members of Branch 458
Fred Richmond remembers when...

Fred has been a member of the Tamworth Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion since it started in 1947. Mr. Richmond had served overseas with the Canadian Forces for four years and eight months. Fred joined the army on the 17th day of May, 1941 just 5 days shy of his 21st birthday. His brother Jimmy joined at the same time as Fred at the young age of 18. Fred enlisted with the 47th Light Anti- Aircraft Battery which covered the areas of Coburg, Belleville, Napanee and Kingston. He was part of the 5th regiment of the 47th Battery. They were to leave immediately for Petawawa Base but at the last minute, a member of the unit became ill and they were detained for about three weeks. Before again getting the go ahead, another member became ill and they were again detained for another three weeks. Finally, they boarded the train for Petawawa, a trip that was to take eleven hours on a milk run train that stopped every few miles. They received training at Camp Petawawa and left for Nova Scotia on September 2, 1942.

"We had just arrived at Nova Scotia and were finished unpacking when they came in and said to pack up, you're leaving for England". That night, they boarded a ship that was definitely not made for a voyage on the open and rough seas. The ship was escorted by two Cruisers for six and a half days before landing on the shores of Scotland. They were ferried from the ship to the shore where they had to walk about a mile to catch a train for England. It was a difficult walk for most after having been on a ship for six days on rough waters, everyone still had their "ship legs". They next were stationed a few miles north of London where they were trained to use the anti aircraft guns. Canada of course didn't have guns of this magnitude at home to train with as they had all been sent to Europe. There were six gunners per gun and each man was trained to do all aspects of the job. The 5th regiment stayed in Sheffield Park, England for over two years on anti aircraft defense with 40 mm guns. Fred tells of one incident where he and a fellow gunner were manning the gun when the British Fighter Aero planes were approaching the beach (they were just outside of Brighton, England on the coast at this time). "We had been told that the planes would come in at about 50 feet above the ground and that if any plane came in below that, we were to fire upon them. This was due to the fact that the enemy planes came in low so as not to be detected by radar. Well, this one enemy plane came in and started to raise up after it got to the shore. He was too low for us to shoot as we were up high on the shore. When he got up, he waited a second too long to pull the machine gun triggers and the bullets went two feet into the ground on either side of us. There was a row of bullets about two feet away from the two of us, boy, that was a close call. The German planes had a machine gun on each wing. We were lucky, if he'd of pulled a second earlier, he'd have got us!"

Fred's regiment later left England and headed for Italy. The trip ended up taking two weeks of extremely difficult travel. This was due to the fact that when they were off the coast of France near Spain, German U-Boats were lying in wait for them. "We were in the middle of a huge convoy of ships that were under the protection of Allied Cruisers and Battle Ships. This convoy included passenger ships that were in the middle of the convoy with us. The convoy was so long that you couldn't see the beginning or the end. Well, the U-Boats kept after us and we headed west. When we finally got turned around and headed east again, a sailor told us that we were only 500 miles off of New York City. It was a long way around to the Straights of Gibraltar. We finally got to the Mediterranean at night fall and were attacked by German Bombers. The ship behind us was loaded with doctors and nurses and they hit it. The ship had to ashore to keep from sinking". Fred's ship finally landed in Sicily where he was transported by train to the northern part of Italy. He then went on a gun fitters course for a week and when he returned, found that his regiment, the 47th had pulled out. He was then transferred to the 109th Anti Aircraft Battery. "When we landed in Sicily, the rest of the ships went on to the west coast of Italy. The German Bombers came over again and sunk most of the ships. Our equipment and guns were destroyed and we had to wait for about three months before we finally got new equipment. We always saw lots of action in Italy as we would go up with the Infantry as they advanced. It was our job to shoot out the machine gun strongholds as our shells were fast and accurate. We'd knock out these strongholds so that they couldn't shoot at the infantry. By then the infantry would work their way ahead with the twenty five pound guns as well as would the heavier artillery. We would then move back again with the infantry". Fred left Italy in April of 1945 and got back into Belgium the week before the war ended. He then went to Holland where he shuttled Canadian Soldiers out to the trains for their well deserved R&R. He spent several months in England before finally landing back home in Kingston on December the 8th, 1945. He had been away from his family and home for four years and 8 months and says that he doesn't regret at all doing his part for Canada.

Fred joined the Napanee Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion upon his return home and later became one of the first members of the Tamworth Branch in 1947. He later married his wife Patricia in 1950 and has one son, Robert. Fred worked in the lumber trade with his brother Claude from 1948 to 1952 at which time he entered the heavy equipment construction industry. He owned his own business for thirty five years and finally retired sixteen years ago.

Since this story was published, our friend Fred passed away peacefully at home in his beloved Tamworth at the age of 81. His funeral was held at Christ Church Anglican in Tamworth on Saturday, January 5, 2002.  He was given a well attended Legion service in the Funeral Home the evening before, and a Legion honour guard participated in the funeral procession. His Flag draped casket was taken to Riverview Cemetery in Napanee for the graveside prayer service, the Canadian Flag was then folded by the honour guard and presented to his family as a symbol of his duty to our country. 

Lest We Forget