A donated uniform, destroyed by a flood this April at the Tofield Legion, is back on display after some creative restoration.
The Tofield Legion building suffered flood damage after a pipe burst in the ceiling April 1. Water spilled over the pool table, thankfully protected by a water proof covering, in addition to damaging some tables beyond repair and seeping inside several encased uniform display boxes. The worst hit was a wool uniform donated by former long-time Tofield Legion member, Keith Tiedemann, who passed away last year. Tiedemann was a 30-year member of the Air Force who retired in the 80s.
“It was just soaked and it’s a wool dress uniform,” said Tofield Legion President Jim Warren in April. “(Wool) doesn’t do water all that well. His boots were in there (too) and they were soaking wet. We had to very carefully make sure that we dried it properly. And then off to the dry cleaners to get it cleaned professionally.”
Warren said, afterwards, that the cleaners said there was no hope for the jacket.
“(When) we went to get it cleaned, they said there was no hope for it,” he said. “So what we did was, we found another tunic of the same vintage and we took all the patches off (the damaged jacket) and all the Insignia is off and we had them re-sewn onto the donor jacket. We weren’t able to save his forage cap, we had to hunt for another donor one.”
Warren said the cap badge from the original was then re-attached to the donor cap.
Meanwhile, Warren said the donated boots for the uniform were also water damaged but were able to be saved.
“Through hard work we were able to save them and they’re back,” he said. “The original boots are back on display. It was strange that it was the one uniform (that was damaged) but it was the way the displays are set up that it took the brunt of it.”
After the flood, Warren said several Legion members rolled up their sleeves and got right to work, using five shopvacs to suction several inches of water from the floors of the building. He said they had to hurry because they had two memorials booked for that coming weekend.
He added, at the time, that total damages amounted to approximately $5,000 not covered by insurance.
Jana Semeniuk
Staff Reporter
