When the Legion Branch 296 expanded here in the mid 1980s, the executive decided a fitting tribute to all the area’s fighting men and women would be a museum.
Today, people still come to see a collection of memorabilia that is remarkable in a small community, and which goes all the way back to the Boer War.
And for a museum, the displays become intensely personal. One shows a young man along with an attractive young woman. The man was J.H. Bacon, and the woman was his fiancée. Current Legion President Ron Wilson said that when Bacon was killed, she never married. And Bacon’s nephew took a picture of his tombstone in Belgium – and donated it to the museum.
Hugh Woodhill Simpson looked after horses in World War I, and his daughter put a display in as a tribute.
There is an old scroll with In Flanders Fields written on it. It is tattered and fading. “That’s what makes it authentic,” Wilson said.
Another display case holds a Prussian helmet from World War I that is so small it would be tight on a very young hockey player. It sits beside a number of captured German bayonets, a red Nazi arm band and swastika, and a flag taken from a captured German staff car.
Canadian soldiers brought back more than just war souvenirs. There is a wide variety of paper money, from the Netherlands, France, Italy, and even a one-million mark Reichbank note, the kind that was virtually worthless when inflation ravaged Germany after World War I and which helped to propel the Nazi Party to power in the 1930s.
There is a plaque for Sidney Spencer Bowes, of neighbouring Howick Township. He was born Nov. 10, 1879, and died in the Boer War on June 20, 1901.
“We have so much stuff, we should have built twice the display space,” Wilson said. “We need another display room. Stuff comes in from all over.”
Indeed it does. A Certificate of Service for the “Great European War (World War I)” is a tribute to Pte. B Wilson, and it demonstrates the connections still felt today from all those years ago.
“His niece still lives in town,” Ron Wilson said. “He was her dad’s oldest brother.”
One of the collections that gives Wilson and other Legion members much pride is the shoulder patches and cap badges on display. One part of a wall is dedicated to them, and the Harriston Legion owns one from every outfit in five Canadian divisions.
“We have them all,” said Wilson. “Some of them are rare.”
He said the branch had to go as far as Montreal to complete its collection, and some of those rare ones were expensive.
“Not many Legions have them all,” he said.
Wilson added that a lot of the memorabilia is “from guys who didn’t make it back.”
Among the displays are gas masks from World War I, bayonets, compasses, helmets, army issue knives, and even a shell Wilson suspects is for anti aircraft or anti tank gun.
Wilson said the executive from nearly 30 years ago simply went to its members and told them what it wanted to do: build a museum. That executive also asked for donations of memorabilia, and it flooded in.
Wilson said even people not connected with World War I and II sent in equipment, photos, and pictures of loved ones who were involved.
Donald Schmidt’s mother donated his Silver Cross. There are pay books for soldiers, and Clarence Ledlow Neil’s Canadian Army Officer’s Record of Service book is on display. It lists his promotions, and the dates for them, as well as some of the qualifications he had to meet.
Some families have been prominent in Harriston and the surrounding area for years. Robert B. Meiklejohn, whose family were among the founders of Harriston, wrote Memories of 1940 – 1945. Wilson noted that Meiklejohn is now 101, and lives in North York.
Another book is Memories of Long Ago, by former Harriston Reeve and Wellington County Warden the late Milton Bridge.
The is even a book of regimental songs, a metal candy dish that was handed out to soldiers in World War I by the Queen of England.
Elmer Bell, of Drew, donated his Lt. Colonel dress uniform.
The younger brother of James Gordon, another soldier killed in service, set up a bursary in his name. It is worth $4,000, and teachers from Norwell District High School selects a student from the former Minto township to receive it each year. It is given to the “most proficient” student from that township.
The museum also details something about the museum. The branch was originally chartered in 1926 as Branch 53. But the Great Depression came along, and the branch had to be given up for a lack of funding and support. The branch regained its charter in 1939 as Branch 296. The original charter, though, was found in a house in Guelph, and now sits back at its home – in the museum.
“You could spend hours in here,” said Wilson, and he is not exaggerating.
Hundreds of people visit the museum, and Legion bus tours often stop to visit, but Wilson noted that people who drop in are usually asked if they have seen the museum. If the answer is negative, a tour is offered immediately.
The branch opens Monday to Thursday at 4pm, and Friday and Saturdays at 3pm, for anyone who wants to visit.
And the 146 Legion members will be very active there in the next few weeks, with a number of services and events surrounding Nov. 11.
