British Legion Help!

[Kattsay]

My friends family was told by his Grandfather to not - under any circumstances - "go asking questions" to the British Legion....

Naturally we are very interested in finding out what this is about, any ideas on what this could mean or how we could find out?!

He served in Korea and possibly Burma in The Royal Artillery and The Royal Service Corps. He also possibly served in Africa.

Any suggestions gratefully recieved

[Little Nell]

No idea. The British Legion is a charity providing for serving and ex-services personnel. What questions were there to ask???

I suppose if you got his service records there might be a clue there. Grandfather may have been pulling their legs, or he may have a scandal that he thought was a scandal but which we wouldn't necessarily find shocking now. On the other hand, there might be a big skeleton rattling.

[Uncle John]

Perhaps he was on a branch committee and there was an "unfortunate incident".

[Val and George]

Gosh K, that's just the sort of statement to make you so incredibly curious you just can't help yourself digging around. I do hope you get to the bottom of it. Keep us posted.
Good luck - Val

[Harrys mum]

I know I'd be asking questions I'd never thought of before lol.

I think (could be wrong) the British Legion is similar to our Legacy in Australia. Helps family of service people who have died. Maybe there were two "families" claiming to be his. Any number of things......sounds like something you are going to find out.


Could be just grandfather's way of being a pain lol.

I'm still trying to find why my grandfather went to his grave absolutely hating the Red Cross, when he'd give his last penny to any charity. He was a ANZAC.

[Helen Henderson]

My late father was quite involved with our local branch of the Legion and I wonder if your friends Grandfather had asked, and recieved some sort of charitable payment. To men who served in both world wars it could be quite difficult for them to recieve "charity" and admit they needed help.

The other thought that springs to mind is that the Legion may have arranged for a stay in one of their "rest homes". Today we are all aware of post traumatic stress disorder that can come with service in the Armed Forces, but the veterans of earlier wars were told to pull themselves together. He may have suffered some sort of a breakdown and recouperated in one of their homes.

My own father raised thousands of pounds for the Legion but was so reluctant to accept their help when he himself needed it.

[Kattsay]

Thanks very much for all your suggestions - we had absolutely no idea why he would be concerned about the family nosing around a charity of all things!

Harrys Mum, your suggestion in particular about two families claiming to be his could have some truth in it, we know his Grandfather left his Grandmother for another woman during his days in service, only to return sometime later.

It's not impossible that there could some children somewhere...the plot thickens!