Royal British Legion Thailand

The Royal British Legion Thailand

Please click on the Logo above to enter our Official Legion Website

Why not visit our Facebook Group to see whats going on and who is where!!

Jay and Ginge (the two young lads!!) seen here with myself, our standard bearer Richard and Ta, both are from 101 Engineer Regiment (EOD). They saw our Legion Sign and thought 'no Way in Thailand', we proved them wrong over a beer or four!!.

Happy Birthday Richard

Happy 50th Birthday to our hard working Standard Bearer Richard Holmes, the older one is our Chairman derek Brook!!

The Royal British Legion Thailand

Welcome to the Royal British Legion Thailand based in Tropical Bert's, Pattaya. We were formed on 1st July 2007 and have in the region of 150 members, we meet socialy every Sunday however our main function is of course to look after the welfare of those who have served or who are serving in the Armed Forces of the Crown and or, their dependants
Since our formation we have paraded our Standard every Remembrance Sunday at the British Embassy in Bangkok, every ANZAC Day at the River Kwai and every June at Ipoh Malaysia in Remembrance of the Malay Emergency 1948 to 1960.
We have also now opened a Sub Branch in Chiang Mai with over 40 members and hope in the future to open another in Korat.

Armed Forces Day 2010

Armed Forces Day 2010 Once again Armed Forces Day was held at Tropical Bert's and again we paid homage to those who have served or are still serving, from Cadets to Generals. The night started young with a fantastic free buffet provided by Pu and the kitchen staff. Reg once again gently persuaded everyone to buy a raffle ticket and I held an Auction for two shirts signed by four footballing legends.

The Staff show the Flag

The night in total made over 17,000 Baht (350 Pounds) the money coming from the raffle and auction. Our Chairman was seen throughout the night checking his camera (Dont mention Malaysia!!), Rodney won the award for the cleanest plate and our President as always "Rang the Bell".

Malaysian Remembrance Day June 2010

Some of our members at Ipoh Malasia

Malay Emergency
The Malay Emergency was called that simply for Insurance purposes, for had it been called a War the Tin mines and Rubber Plantation's would not have been able to claim insurance.

However to the young men, mainly conscripts who fought and died there it was a war, a war fought in dense jungle, intense heat and never ending sweat, it was also a war they won.
I first got involved with the Malay Remembrance Service four years ago, the same time that our branch was formed. I was contacted by a former member of the Coldstream Guards (my old regiment) who had heard that I lived in Thailand, his name was Reg Councell who served with the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1948.

Age was now catching up on Reg and he asked me that; if I should ever be in Malaysia would I lay a wreath for his boy’s at "God's Little Acre". I had never heard of this place but on checking found there was a Remembrance Service there every June, a short meeting was held in the bar and two months later five of our newly formed branch were on parade in Ipoh Malaysia, we have attended every year since, this year there were 17 of us including many wife’s, for after the three days of parades we spent four days on holiday in Penang

It is an Honour for me to represent Reg and the Coldstream Guards, I am also proud to say that our Branch also represented the Royal Marines this year, there is no Cap badge Rivalry here, only respect.

We as always attended four services spread over three days, our Standard Bearer Richard Holmes being the centre of attraction at all events, we met old and new friends and were invited to a number of functions and dinners

Malaysia is now a fantastic country to visit and we have many good friends there, we look forward to meeting them and attending all the services again next year, although we are the Thailand Branch we have taken God's Little Acre to our heart, whilst many of the veterans may become too frail to attend our small branch will keep the flame of Remembrance alight in Malaysia.

Please click on the pictures below for more details;

ANZAC Day 2010

Members from Chonburi, Korat and Chiang Mai at ChungKai War Cemetary

U.S. Navy Chiefs visit us, after we visited them!

It has take us a couple of years to achieve it, but at last we have a good working relationship with the U.S. Military. To that ends we were invited to visit the USS Fitzgerald, our group were given a guided tour by Master Chief Eric Cole. We had a fantastic few hours aboard and all fell in love with our very own Albert R.N who served in 1946, and he certainly made sure they all knew that!!.
What we did not know was that April 1st is the US Navy's Chiefs Day, the first recorded rank of Chief dates back to April 1st 1893, now being as they have Dry Ships they needed somewhere a little wetter to celebrate their birhday, enter Tropical Bert's/The Royal British Legion and the next day we were the hosts. Below are a number of pictures from both days, just click on them for details and to enlarge them. The photo above shows the Chief's and some of our members (we being the older looking ones!!) outside Tropical Bert's.

On the left our Chairman Derek Brook presents one of our Plaques to Eddie Finlay of the Limassol, Cyprus Branch of the RBL and on the Right I present one to Doug Robinson, Head of The US Navy Force Protection Unit Thailand.

The MOD have reported that within a few years 2 of our Armed Sevices will have joined together, now we in the Guards and HMS Maidstone suspected that would be the case in the 70s!!