Ex-Services League works for veterans
This coming Sunday will be observed as Remembrance Day, a time set aside to honour all those men and women who gave their lives in the world’s all too frequent wars. Earlier in the week I met with members of an organisation which is dedicated to both the memory of the dead and the welfare of the living.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
In 1962 the Belize Ex-Services League was established to bring comfort and assistance to those men who fought in World Wars I and II. Today, the organization is not only looking to expand its services, but has opened its doors to women as well. The League is not only for war veterans, but all persons who have served in the military.
Emelia Cayetano, President, Belize Ex-Services League
“As a matter of fact since we did an exercise a few months ago, we realize that we have a lot of World War II veterans out there who are not associated with the organization. We also have quite a number of ex-BDF personnel who have not associated themselves with the organization and I am calling on them to come in and support us.”
Presently the league has a branch in every district. In Dangriga the organization is working hard to increase its membership.
Sylvia Norales-Francis, Treasurer, Dangriga Branch
“Well right now we have twenty veterans from World War II and twenty-seven widows at this time. We are hoping that we can have the ex-members of the Volunteer Guard and the BDF assist us because without them, we can’t do nothing much because the World War II veterans are old and there are only certain things that they can do. So we need them to come in so at least we can work to further the progress of the League.”
Cayetano says they are working on a number of programmes that will give war veterans the credit they deserve.
Emelia Cayetano
“The League looks after… especially now, we are looking after the few World War II veterans that are left. We find it very necessary to try and give these people more recognition. We find that most of them are aging and suffering from some health condition, so we are working with other organizations like the Helpage and we have seven members at the Sister Cecilia Home.”
On Sunday a special remembrance mass will take place at the memorial park to pay tribute to the veterans who did not make it back home. For those who survived the war, the experience is unforgettable.
Burton Moore, World War II Veteran
“Well my experience was that we had five hundred to go to Great Britain, during World War II. My number came up at two twenty-six, my brother which got torpedoed, came up at thirteen. We boarded the ship from out by Robinson’s Point, straight down to Trinidad. I was transported from there into a merchant ship, back to Nova Scotia, Canada. We spent nine days there and then we caught the convoy going over the Atlantic with fifty-six ships, nineteen days, day and night.”
“We really never had any activity going across, there were small things happening, but not great. Planes came over and spied over and went back to land off and on everyday.”
Hubert Bennett, World War II Veteran
“I was in the infantry”
Jacqueline Woods
“Tell me what that experience was like.”
Hubert Bennett
“That experience was an education by itself, nobody can teach you about it unless you were there. I joined the army in 1942 and we did our basic training. We were stationed in Orange Walk and Corozal. In 1944 they called us up to headquarters in Belize and told us that we were drafted to go overseas. It was an exciting moment for us.”
Jacqueline Woods
Where did you go?”
Hubert Bennett
“We left from Belize and went to Jamaica and we formed the West Indian Battalion North Caribbean Forces.”
Jacqueline Woods
“How old were you?”
Hubert Bennett
“I was about nineteen, twenty.”
Jacqueline Woods
“What do you think you remember the most, because this must come back to you now and then?”
Hubert Bennett
“What I remember the most was when they told us that the war was over and we were all going home. That was the best part of it.”
Jacqueline Woods
“How long did you stay away from home?”
Hubert Bennett
“I stayed away from home from ’44 to ’46. I came back to Belize in April ’46.”
To support veterans like Moore and Bennett, the League holds an annual fund raising drive.
Emelia Cayetano
“We assist them with medical expenses and other benefits like a comfort allowance, especially those who are needy. That is the reason why we have this fund raising drive right now going on. Every year we do this drive selling poppies and for the first time this year, we are having a Veterans Magazine released, which is already out. It’s available to the general public and that is a part of the fund raising drive. This money that we collect is used to assist our World War II veterans.”
The public is being asked to support the cause and pick up a poppy for only a dollar.
