History

The first official request for the formation of a returned soldiers group appeared in the November 15, 1917 edition of The Cranbrook Herald. At that point the Great War Veterans’ Association had formed about ninety branches across Canada, including ones in Nelson and Fernie. Dominion membership stood at over 25,000 members.

R.T. Williams of Cranbrook began to collect names and then called a meeting at the Y.M.C.A. for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11, 1917, with the purpose of forming a Cranbrook branch.

The Cranbrook Branch G.W.V.A. moved quickly to build their ranks and establish a Ladies Auxiliary.  Dr. F.W. Green was added to the membership roll as Honorary President in January, 1918.

The Ladies’ Auxiliary was formed on January 21st, 1918 at an afternoon meeting in City Hall. Mrs. J. Laurie was elected President, with Mrs. J.A. Genest as Vice-President.

Meeting in City Hall and conversing with city officials, it quickly came to be that the City offered the old Royal Hotel to the G.W.V.A.  The City had received ownership of the building in early 1918 and had sold the contents to apply against back taxes.  The G.W.V.A. became tenants and eventually took an ownership position in the building and grounds. They continually worked on and invested in the building until in June of 1926 they sold the property on Cranbrook Street to George Tater and it became the Byng Hotel.

On July 16th, 1926, the members of the G.W.V.A. Cranbrook branch in an extraordinary general meeting, voted to wind up the affairs of the organization and join the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League. Believing that there was more to be accomplished with a consolidated force, the more than 200,000 members of the G.W.VA. joined with a number of other organizations under the umbrella of the Canadian Legion.

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