However, while the branch didn’t receive formal recognition from the league until 1921, records show the branch had already been in operation for about two years.
A Rochester Express article from March 19, 1918, reported on a meeting of returned soldiers of Rochester for the purpose of forming a branch of the “Returned Sailors and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia”.
It was hoped a local branch would maintain unity and see better repatriation for returned soldiers.
The branch has provided welfare support to returned and current servicemen over the years and its members range from one remaining World War II veteran, to one still in the Army Reserve.
Current president Greg Walkley has been part of the group since he walked off the gangplank on return from the Vietnam War in 1971, and his father, Stewart Walkley, pinned the RSL badge on his uniform.
He was the youngest member at the time and said the branch gave him “all the support under the sun”.
“The old guys welcomed me with open arms,” he said.
“Just being able to talk about stuff you would never talk about with anyone else.
“It helped me sometimes too because if I was telling a tale, they’d start telling stories about Egypt and all that — it was really a healing process for me as well as for them.”
Mr Walkley has refurbished two swords, one of which was brought back from World War I by Major General George Rankin, and he hopes to add them to the array of memorabilia at the Rochester RSL hall, alongside Major General Rankin’s uniform.
The Bamawm dairy farmer served in World War I and World War II, including at Gallipoli, in the Middle East and in Europe, before going into state and federal parliament on his return.
He was one of more than 900 men from the former Rochester Shire to serve in World War I, with their names recognised on a memorial at the RSL.
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