By Dongyun Kwon
A local Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) sub branch is calling for current or former servicemen and servicewomen, and their family members to be part of them.
The Yarra Glen RSL was originally formed on 19 January 1919 and was re-chartered in the Victorian Branch of the RSSAIL as a sub-branch on 19 April 1945.
Yarra Glen RSL secretary and treasurer Edward Bartosh said the purpose of the RSL is to remember and assist those who have served or their dependants who need help financially and emotionally.
“We host a Remembrance Day Service and Anzac Day Service. We invite local school children to come on Anzac Day and tell us what it means to their family and them,” he said.
“We also assist with other RSLs in the Yarra Valley to remember the Vietnam vets who were not treated very well when they came home.
“We are very small here but we are connected through larger RSLs such as Healesville and the state branch down in Melbourne.”
The local sub branch holds a barbecue party on the last Friday of each month from 12pm at the Yarra Glen Memorial Hall and is going to host a special opening day on Saturday 8 March to introduce the RSL to people.
The Yarra Glen RSL committee would like to host more social events if they succeed in recruiting more members.
There are two different types of memberships for the RSL; service membership and affiliate membership.
Service membership is available to anyone who is or was a member of the Australian Defence Force with at least one day’s service (fulltime equivalent), or anyone who is or was a member of an Allied Armed Force with at least six months of service.
Affiliate membership is available to anyone who has a close family member who is or was eligible for service membership, and is also available to anyone who works or has worked, with at least six months of service, in the emergency services.
Mr Bartosh is a service member who joined the RSL as an Allied Armed Force serviceman in 2005.
“I served in the American army for 22 years and decided to move to Australia,” he said.
“A friend told me the RSL was a club for veterans to join. I saw a lot of guys who looked like my father at that time. They were World War II vets who served in the Pacific.”
President Michael Watkins has joined the RSL as a service member as well.
“I’m ex (British) Royal Air Force. I was in the air force from 1964 until 1985, came to Australia in 2005 and joined the RSL as a service member shortly afterwards,” the president said.
Unlike two former soldiers, vice president George Miller has become an RSL affiliate member to honour his father.
Mr Miller said his father was a World War II veteran.
“He was in Kokoda, Borneo and New Guinea, and served overseas in Egypt and Syria,” he said.
“He was in the 7th Division, 2/4th regiment, which was an artillery unit, and he served for six years.”
For more information about the membership or the opening day event, contact Mr Bartosh via phone on 0438 508 235 or email rsl@yarraglen.com
