There were approximately 70 in attendance at the last Remembrance Day Service to be held by Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 349 at the old Saskatchewan Hospital building.
With a two o’clock start time, members of the community’s two other legions, Branches No. 9 and No. 70, support the service, ensuring a colour party is in attendance and representation from zone and district levels.
Branch No. 349 had its beginnings when, following the Second World War, more than 200 veterans from all over the province found it necessary to be admitted and seek treatment at Saskatchewan Hospital. Many veterans returned as staff members, as well. Concerned about their care and welfare, it was decided, because the hospital was a community within itself, to form a Legion branch to ensure the resident veterans would not be forgotten.
Today’s Branch No. 349 is the melding of the Royal Canadian Legion branch, chartered in 1948, and the ladies’ auxiliary, formed in 1949 and closed in 2009 after 60 years in existence. The support services always provided by the auxiliary continue through the branch and the auxiliary members who are now members of the branch itself.
Attendees applauded at the end of the service to show their appreciation.
