Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club members and their guests having lunch on June 1, may have wondered about a group of animated seniors, white hair and all, gathered at one end of the dining room.

All well into or nearing their 80s, their combined ages easily exceeded 500 years. The group represented one third of the surviving Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps Overseas Association war veterans who served overseas in the Second World War. Or, as Wendy O?Connor, the attractive young lady waiting on us offered: ?The last of the Mohicans!?

We were part of the remaining 17 members of an organisation founded back in 1919 by returning BVRC overseas volunteers from the First World War.

Each of that small group had acquired the mystic bond that only servicemen and women sharing extreme experiences and comradeship can know. The association has met annually for 86 consecutive years. The format never varies.

It begins with a short business meeting, followed immediately by a dinner. This year, however, the dinner was replaced by an especially fine luncheon prepared and served by the RHADC staff. High quality reminiscing was non-stop. Members wore medals and military ties. The table had been set for ten places. Five of the 11 living in Bermuda and one from abroad were present. The other seats remained unoccupied due chiefly to failing health.

Wendy O?Connor proved to have close ties with the association as her grandfather, Grandville Ivan O?Connor, known to all of us as ?GI?, had served in the BVRC before going overseas.

I only met ?GI? once during the Second World War. It was by chance at Peterborough Station in England in 1942 or 1943. A colleague had spotted a soldier wearing a Bermuda flash farther down the station platform. I located him and introduced myself.

Battle dress jackets were very blousy. Quite a few items could be carried within them. When ?GI? discovered I was Bermudian he immediately unbuttoned his jacket, inserted both hands and pulled out a bottle of Scotch with one hand and a bottle of rum with the other.

He welcomed me with ?Man, have a drink!?. St. David?s famed hospitality was alive and well three thousand miles from home. Honourary secretary George Fisher arranged the annual general meeting agenda. Overseas, George was a veteran of the Lincolnshire Regiment and a glider brigade veteran with the Border Regiment.

He was twice wounded in the airborne assault designed to capture the Arnhem Bridge which crossed the River Rhine. The bridge was the gateway to Germany for his armour that Field Marshall Montgomery so badly wanted. When the battle was lost the Germans found George amid the rubble and rescued him. He was a prisoner of war for the remainder of the campaign.

The first business item was the election of a president. I had held that office for more than ten years but as I was no longer living in Bermuda, I resigned.

The meeting then unanimously voted to elect current vice-president Francis Stephens as the new president. Francis had served overseas as a pilot in the Royal Air Force.

Malcolm Gosling, the longest serving officer in the association unfortunately could not be present. A pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, he cannot have missed many reunions since 1945.

Rounding out the luncheon group were Eugene Doughty, whose first rank on September 3, 1939 was ?Boy? due to being under age and who served in destroyers in the Royal Navy; Herbert Marshall was in the Royal Air Force; and John Watlington was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Following the death of two members, Bill Roberts and John Southern, since the 2004 reunion, the membership total has shrunk to 17.

Bill and John both served in Europe with the Lincolnshire Regiment and fought through to the end of the war. Eleven members still live in Bermuda, while the other six are in England, Canada and the United States.

With overseas units served in shown in brackets, roll call now consists only of: Keith Aubrey, Bermuda (Lincolnshire Regiment), Tommy Aitchison, USA (Lincolns, The Black Watch), Bobbie Burnard, Canada (Royal Air Force), Freeman Cassidy, Bermuda (Lincolns), Harold Dale, USA (Royal Canadian Air Force), Eugene Doughty, Bermuda (Royal Navy);

George Fisher, Bermuda (Lincolns, The Border Regiment), Malcolm Gosling, Bermuda (RCAF), Fred Mansbridge , Canada (Royal Corps of Signals, The Commandos), Graham Madeiros, Bermuda (Lincolns), Herbert Marshall, Bermuda (RAF);

Geoffrey Osborn, England (RAF), Lea Rankin, Bermuda (Lincolns), George Rowlands, Canada (Lincolns), Francis Stephens, Bermuda (RAF), John Watlington, Bermuda (RCAF), Jimmy Vallis , Bermuda (RAF).

Sadly, the BVRC was disbanded shortly after the end of the Second World War. However, its spirit lives on with those of us who will always feel honoured to have served in the Corps. So much so that one member suggested at this year?s reunion that the reunions should continue as long as there are at least two of us left.

Currently on a visit home with my wife Lois, I shall try to repeat the 4,000 mile journey from California next year, if possible, to attend the next reunion.

Set toasts at the luncheon included, as always, those to Her Majesty the Queen, to absent comrades and to ourselves.

As we left, although we did not sing (at least not loud enough to be heard) Vera Lynn?s celebrated wartime anthem, ?We?ll Meet Again?, was very much on my mind, and I?m sure I wasn?t alone.