Former member, and colour party member, remembers the group with pride
The Sedgewick Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion had its roots in community and in
service for 95 years. History shows that the Great War Veteran’s Association was started in the town by veterans and non-veterans, and goes back to the period between 1918 and 1939.
According to the history books, this group’s purpose was two-fold. It acted as an informal rehabilitation unit for one, and also as an advocacy group, to ensure that veterans who had given up years of their productive lives in service received any and all benefits available to them.
The British Empire Service League was formed in 1926, and the Sedgewick group joined them. With a larger group, the advocacy to ensure that veterans got better deals was more powerful. The local group was given a charter in 1928, officially becoming Branch 55. Listed as original charter members were H. Abbott, GW Ambrose, HA Blackman, AG Burch, FA Butt, Chas. Chilvers, WR Curtis, CA Disturnal, H Gascoye, E Leah, CWH McGee, JS Muirhead, GR Murray, JA Saunders, and WG Saunders. Ironically, Cliff Harris, who had to that point devoted most of his life to Legion work, was not listed, as he couldn’t attend the charter evening because his ranching activities prevented that night.
The Sedgewick Legion and its members have always devoted themselves, like other
branches, to the service of their comrades and to the community, says long-time Legion member and son of founding member Jock Muirhead, David Muirhead.
Muirhead says the cenotaph that currently stands at the end of Main Street in Killam was built by the Legion. “The design was taken from the design of the Vimy Ridge memorial; the rocks were gathered from local fields.” He says that cenotaph was unveiled on July 1, 1922 and to this day continues to serve as both a tribute to veterans of the region, and as a memorial to those who paid the ultimate price through their
service.
The Sedgewick Cadet Corp 1752 was formed in 1920 and run by Captain C.W.H. McGee, with Horace Beairsto taking over in the last ‘50s. In 1963 Beairsto received the Canadian Forces ribbon for long service, and during the corps lifetime, it received the R. B. Bennett Trophy five times for the most efficient corps in Alberta, Muirhead says. That group disbanded in 1968. Muirhead served as a cadet under Beairsto as well.
In the early 1950s, the Sedgewick branch formed a Colour Party. Muirhead says
local member Fred McKee was asked to take this on and played a large role in both
forming and serving on it for many years. By definition, a Colour Party in military organizations, a small party of soldiers entrusted with carrying the colours, or flags. Muirhead says the colour party always played a big role during local Remembrance Day ceremonies and adds, “To my knowledge, our Colour Party laid to rest, with military honours, all veterans who passed, or whose families asked us to be there.”
He says sometimes that took the group well outside the Sedgewick area, but that they
were happy to perform this service wherever they were needed.
When Alberta’s Lieutenant Governors visited Sedgewick on at least two occasions, the colour party was there to honour and welcome both honourable Norman Kwong and Donald Ethel. Muirhead says through the years the Sedgewick Legion
Branch was blessed with the talents of local pipers from outside the community, for parades with the colour party, or funerals. “Then the Battle River Pipes and Drums formed, and have served us extremely well, until the Legion disbanded this past year.”
Muirhead says the Legion’s Ladies Auxiliary started around 1955, and played a big
part in all the branch’s activities, and in their philanthropic support of the community.
“They helped to fund the playground at the Rec Centre, provided scholarships to local students, and put together treats and gifts for the veteran’s ward at the Colonel Mewburn hospital in Edmonton at Christmas.” The two groups supported and
complimented one another over the years.
It hasn’t all been roses for the Sedgwick Legion. Like other local service groups, through the years support and membership has waxed and waned; there were times in the past that the group was in danger of being disbanded, and the charter forfeited.
In the past, the Sedgewick Legion has always rallied. Even when the cost of owning
the large Legion building became too much just a few years ago, the group agreed to sell the building, donating the proceeds to the support of many groups, both in the community and outside it. They donated funds towards the Sedgewick Wild Rose Coop Recreation Centre’s new roof, to the Sedgewick Lions Club, and to many other
groups, Muirhead says. “Local sports organizations, hospitals, care homes, and more.”
The group continued to meet, at first renting space at the Community Hall from the
Lions, who Muirhead says, “Were very generous and supportive, not only giving us the
space for next to nothing, but also giving us a wall to hang up some of our important artifacts.” He says when stairs made it hard for older members, the group moved to meeting at The Hive. But as membership dwindled, with members aging out, or moving
away, or passing away, the group’s future became uncertain.
In 2023, just five years short of its 100th year, the Sedgewick Legion members voted to discontinue the charter, and disband. Remaining members would be welcomed into
Lougheed or Killam Legion branches, and all remaining funds had already been disbursed to support a wide variety of community groups.
Muirhead says, “On a personal note, my father was a chartered member of the
Sedgewick Legion and had served as its president. “Dad enlisted in 1914 with
the 49th overseas division, with many men out of the Lougheed area, with Cecil Kinross being one of those he served with. (Kinross won the Victoria Cross
for his bravery in WWII)” Muirhead says that when his father was in the company of
other comrades who had served, there was a real difference in him. “To be with those
who saw the same horrors, who served and lived, and returned, that was clearly something he valued.”
Muirhead says the Legion branches allowed returning veterans to support one another, and also serve a vital role in supporting local communities. He adds, “What a privilege to live in a country in which we are free. I give thanks every day for the men and women who met the call and served, and those who are still serving this great nation, including those who paid for our freedoms with their very lives.”
He says he couldn’t bear to think of the Sedgwick Legion Branch just going off without a sendoff; without an acknowledgement of this, “Tremendous organization who served returning veterans so very well, and who supported and served the community for such a long time, and so well.”
Muirhead says that despite the disbanding of the Sedgewick Branch #55, it is the Colour Party member’s intention to continue to maintain the 100-year-plus tradition of leading the July 1 Canada Day parade in Sedgewick as well as the Remembrance Day ceremony march to the cenotaph.
Leslie Cholowsky
Editor