This year marked a special occasion for Herman Barkemeyer, a service officer with the Royal Canadian Legion in Barrhead, when he was awarded the Ministry of Veteran’s Affairs Commendation in Calgary, by veteran affairs minister Erin O’Toole.
Barkemeyer, 82, a veteran of the Korean War, has been a member of the legion for 45 years, assisting fellow veterans and widows in collecting documentation and pensions. His dedication to helping veterans is exemplified through volunteer work, which includes driving them to Edmonton for medical appointments, delivering fruit and flower baskets and in assisting with birthday celebrations at the Barrhead Continuing Care Centre for over 50 residents.
“Receiving this award makes me feel very grateful to have been recognized,” Barkemeyer said. “I have a friend who lives in Montreal who was awarded one, quite a while ago, and I was his section leader in the Korean War, so it is nice to get mine finally.”
Barkemeyer said that as a service officer, he is generally the first person that anyone who is looking for help with veteran affairs will see. “If they need help, we try to go through the process and while not all things work out perfectly, even if I don’t have a name, I will look them up and we’ll talk through their problems. You have to understand, a lot these guys, when they come home, they’ve been gone for years at a time and they need a place where they can talk about their experiences with people who’ve gone through similar things.”
Barkmeyer, the sole remaining veteran of the Korean War in Barrhead, said there are 42 other servicemen at the legion, many of whom are from the Second World War, from various NATO-related conflicts, as well as the Cold War, and that it is gratifying to be working with them.
Born in Innisfail in 1933, Barkemeyer came to the district of Barrhead in 1947 and joined the army three years later, receiving his basic training in Calgary before heading off to Korea, where he was stationed for five years. “I got married when I came back and then I did five years with the Air Force,” Barkemeyer said. “I was part of the ground crew and didn’t fly any planes, but it wasn’t for me, so I got out and turned my attention to farming and oil.”
Barkemeyer added that farming was his way of coping with what he had endured overseas, and when he retired at 67, he sold the farm and moved to town, ending up at legion meetings.
“I enjoy people,” Barkemeyer said. “To be a service officer, I think it helps a lot if you are a veteran. Other people have been service officers without being veterans, but for me, it helped because I could understand where these people were coming from.”
Barkemeyer has been awarded five legion committee medals – a Volunteer Medal, a 60th anniversary medal, a 65th anniversary medal, a 75th anniversary medal and a 90 year medal in honour of the Newfoundlander regiments killed in the First World War. He has also been awarded the Korean War medal, a Volunteer medal, a peacekeeping medal, a UN medal, and a centennial medal awarded by the premiere of Alberta.
