30 March 2020

Find Family in Royal Canadian Legion Military Service Recognition Books

Military Service Recognition Books identify and recognize veterans — "any person who is serving or has honourably served in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Commonwealth or its wartime allies, or as a Regular Member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or as a Peace Officer in a Special Duty Area or on a Special Duty Operation, or who has served in the Merchant Navy or Ferry Command during wartime."

The books are published by Fenety Marketing in a fairly uniform format for the various Provincial Commands of the 30,000 member-strong Royal Canadian Legion. There's a list of the Commands with links to their websites at www.legion.ca/contact-us/provincial-commands/.

Supported by advertising and donations, the books feature biographies and reminiscences of those who served. Most entries are from the Second and First World Wars, also the Korean war and more. They may include articles on activities of the Legion and on notable events in which Command servicemen and women were involved. Typically each of the about 100 volumes has a table of contents near the front which names the veterans mentioned.

Except as noted the volumes are available as searchable pdfs.

British Columbia/Yukon Command
www.dropbox.com/sh/sfuwolxzqyfanq4/AAB-eDD5P7Kbs7-ayCrBnw_ka?dl=0/
14 volumes starting in 2006. PDFs not searchable.

Alberta-NWT Command
abnwtlegion.com/in-the-community/military-service-recognition-books/
11 volumes starting in 2009.

Saskatchewan Command
sasklegion.ca/military-service-recognition-book/
11 volumes and a commemorative booklet published starting in 2007.

Manitoba/Northwest Ontario Command
www.mbnwo.ca/fenety.htm
10 volumes starting in 2010.

Ontario Command
www.on.legion.ca/remembrance/military-service-recognition-book/
6 volumes starting in 2014. A master index at www.on.legion.ca/docs/default-source/pdf/msr-book/msrb---names-listing.pdf?sfvrsn=299973f_4

Quebec Command
None found

New Brunswick Command
nb.legion.ca/veterans/military-service-recognition-book/
13 bilingual volumes and a commemorative booklet starting in 2003.

Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command
www.ns.legion.ca/index.php/veterans/veteran-service-recognition-book/
15 volumes starting in 2005.

Prince Edward Island Command
peilegion.com/projects/military-service-recognition-booklet/
15 volumes and a commemorative booklet starting in 2003.

Newfoundland and Labrador Command
www.legionnl.com/forms-facts-faqs/lest-we-forget-books/
7 volumes known as Lest We Forget Books starting in 2011.

Many thanks to Glenn Wright for alerting me to these books.


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