Fresh coffee is made every morning at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 271, just as it has been for more than 40 years. Every day a changing roster of retired soldiers meet there to discuss current events, their families and friends and occasionally – but rarely – their shared history serving in the Canadian military.
On a quiet Friday morning, a week before Remembrance Day, there are three tables of retired military men. Most arrive shortly after 8 a.m.
“When you spend your whole life getting up early to jog, the habit is well formed,” said Bill Dickson, who retired as captain from the Canadian Airborne Regiment.
While the men are passionate about their Legion support, they are a younger group of veterans. At Dickson’s table are former Korean War vets, as well as fellow members of the Canadian Airborne, who served during the Cold War. Veterans from the Second World War seldom come out for the early coffee visit these days.
“They are all in their nineties now. Some of them will be out on Remembrance Day though,” Dickson said.
St. Albert’s Legion is one of the busiest and financially fortunate in Canada, the veterans say, because of the city’s proximity to Edmonton Garrison. Yet the newest generation of vets seldom visit, except for the occasion of Remembrance Day.
“When we went to war in Afghanistan, everything picked up (at the Legion). So did poppy sales and the attendance at Remembrance Day services,” Dickson said.
Chris Smith, also a retired captain with the Canadian Airborne, explained that for his group of comrades, the Legion has always been a place where he could find like-minded souls, who shared a commonality of problems and interests.
“All of us came later to the Legion,” said Smith, who served in Norway, Cypress, Guam, the Canadian Arctic and in Alaska. A career military man, he eventually taught survival and parachuting skills.
War is real to these men, and that’s something that cannot be prettied up or glossed over. Smith recalled teaching new recruits at Wainwright, Alta., about mortar fire and what a single mortar could do to a human being.
“I took them up to where the mortar had landed, red hot and this long,” said Smith, holding his hands about two feet apart.
“Then I asked them to imagine that ripping through flesh and bone. It’s about being wounded in more ways than one. It’s about being wounded physically as a soldier but also mentally. That’s where the Legion came in. It’s here to look after people and a place where we feel comfortable. It’s where we look after our own,” he said.
The men talked about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its lifelong effects.
“It’s had a lot of names,” said Dickson. “First they said it wasn’t manly, or some such thing. Then they called it shell shock, then battle fatigue and now Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But we hear about young soldiers, homeless, on the street in downtown Edmonton.”
Eventually military personnel from the more recent conflicts may turn to the Legion for support, Smith said. He’s hopeful they find the camaraderie that has helped him.
“We were all strangers but the Legion was a place where we were welcomed. It’s more than that. The Legion has clout, especially when it comes to the bureaucracy of Veterans Affairs. Someone needs to push them sometimes to do the right thing for veterans and the Legion has clout. They know the Legion has clout because there are a lot of votes go with it,” Smith said.
For this Remembrance Day, especially since the deaths last month of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, the veterans anticipate there will be a large turnout both at the cenotaph and later at the Legion itself.
“On the 11th, this place will be jammed,” said Smith.
