Royal British Legion A DATE AT LAST!!!
After six years of research and submissions to the Headquarters of The Royal British Legion, Newcastle Emlyn Branch
has at last gained the right to carry the pennant denoting the formation date of July 21st 1921 – the earliest possible date.
Fourteen months after the end of the Great War with much of Europe and Asia still in turmoil and with unemployment and poverty facing many who had returned from the conflict to “A land fit for heroes”, a banquet was held at the Cawdor Hall in order to inaugurate the Federation of Discharged Sailors & Soldiers, under the Presidency of Col. Fitzwilliam. A search of the local newspapers determines the date of this banquet being 23rd January 1920.
The Basic idea of this Federation was one of community self-help to care for the needs of those who had survived the conflict, the dependants of those who had not and to ensure that those who had given their lives in the service of their Country were never forgotten. Such is the history behind many of the War Memorials
we see today, from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, to those in towns and villages across the land, which are the centre point of services in November each year. Not to Glorify war, but to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom.
However, in 1921, the Federation in Newcastle Emlyn was wound up and with other organisations with similar objectives, banded together throughout the Country to become the British Legion, later the Royal British Legion.
In 1996, a resolution was adopted at a Branch meeting of the Royal British Legion in Newcastle Emlyn that a pennant should be added to the Standard to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the establishment of the Branch, the pennant to bear the legend 1921 – 1996.
Authorisation was duly sought from headquarters in London to confirm the date of formation, to submit with the order.
Dismay followed at the next Branch meeting when headquarters reported that the computer records under the Newcastle Emlyn heading were BLANK!! Had the original Card Index been retained, the Secretary asked. Again the reply was that there was a card – but this contained
