The Moose Jaw Legion has been a second home for Bruce Hatley for a number of decades.
Fifty years, in fact.
The local veteran was one of more than 100 local Legion members who were honoured during the Royal Canadian Legion Moose Jaw Branch No. 59 Years of Service Awards on Wednesday.
"It's quite an honour to have that many years here in Moose Jaw at that branch," said Hatley who was the attendee who had the most years of service that was honoured.
Hatley enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.
"It was September of '43 when I started and by time I finished all of my training it was March of '45 and so I didn't get overseas," Hatley said.
He spent time at 12 different stations in three years with RCAF before leaving the Forces in 1946. He worked for a decade before rejoining the Air Force in 1955 and served until December of 1975. He transferred to Moose Jaw in June of 1965 and has been in the city ever since.
"I was fairly active in the Legion until the last year or so," Hatley said. "There were a lot of friends I knew that were Legion members and my wife Shirley was very active in the Ladies Auxiliary here. We spent many good evenings here."
Hatley spent 14 years as house chairman in the branch in the 1980s and 1990s and also served in the colour party for 34 years.
"The biggest job I had was the house chairman. There was a lot of work to keep this old building going," he said.
As Hatley looked around a full Legion auditorium, the building and the Legion itself felt like it was in good shape. After so many years of dedicated service, Hatley hopes the Royal Canadian Legion has a bright future for the coming generations of veterans.
"I hope it survives for a good many more years," he said. "It's a place where so many of our veterans come back to join with old friends they had before, plus we have a lot of younger people here now. So hopefully it will be going for many years."
Years of Service Awards 2019
Life Member
15 Years: Sharon Erickson.
25 Years: William Hrechka, Norma Richardson.
35 Years: Steve Edwards, Barry Young.
45 Years: Ron Horton.
50 Years: Bruce Hatley.
Ordinary Member
5 Years: Sherry Altenhof, Floyd Lovequist, Grant Pohl, Gerhard Ricken, Jerry Sushelniski, Douglas Therens, Robert Travale, Richard Yuke.
10 Years: Stephen Lambert, Douglas Schulties, Peter Smith.
15 Years: Edwin Beker, Kenneth Kirkpatrick, Jean Marc Plourde, Frank Thome.
20 Years: Bryan Chase.
25 Years: Lorraine Hall, Marielle Harris, John Morrison, James Worrall.
30 Years: Kurt Finlayson, Carl Graham, Randall Haig.
35 Years: A.O. Cameron, F. Carpenter, Bryan Chadwick, Scott McKinnon, Arthur Stow, D.E. Walker, W.D. Westhaver.
40 Years: Jack Albinet, William Gould, David Lott, Kevin Mackey, W.P. O'Brien.
45 Years: Yvonne Tyler.
50 Years: William Langford.
65 Years: Calvin Barry.
Associate Member
5 Years: Doug Bick, Dianne Breton, David Dryburgh, Helen Fox, Trisha German, Randy Hahn, Karen Ireland, Robert Labuick, Gary May, David McFee, Janel McFee, Verginia Ricken, Chelsey Robinson, Diane Spearman, Dwayne Wilson.
10 Years: Dwayne Neudeck, Wendy Simard, Don Thompson, Carol Weekes.
15 Years: Belinda Keays, Lenard Schmidt, Anthony Tolley.
20 Years: Maureen Bruvold, Travis Mealing.
25 Years: Gareth Argue, Sharon Brade, June Buck, Deborah Fatteicher, Sharon Grant, Larry Hall, Bradford Hoover, Roy Labuick.
30 Years: Dale Anderson, Heather Ault, Robert Brade, Wendy Bucknall, F.A. Church, Bill Lawson, Marvin Schaitel.
35 Years: Douglas Anderson, Hank Mealing, Scott Myles.
40 Years: Eileen Berg, Derron Hoover, James Johnson, C.E. McGregor, Sheila Mokry, Randy Shaw. D.J. Wiseman.
45 Years: G.K. Anderson, G.W. Holman, Dale Vigar.
55 Years: Norman Glover.
Affiliate Voting Member
5 Years: Michael Fitzsimmons, Richard Gray, Doris Hoskins, Patricia Kosteniuk, Brian Maginley, Glen Melquist.
15 Years: Bert Gaumond, Paul Kerr, Faye Rusu, Robert Rusu.
20 Years: Florence Taylor.
