Toronto “Encampment”
November 5th, 2008 adminKentucky Colonels from Toronto, Canada and Northern New York got together for what sounds like a wonderful evening late last month. Colonel Derwin Mak filed this report with Headquarters:
Toronto Encampment Report, October 2008
Seven Kentucky Colonels attended the encampment: Col. Dr. William Basztyk of Toronto; Col. David Birtwistle of Toronto; Col. Maurice Janeczko of Alden, New York; Col. Stephen Lautens of Toronto; Col. Derwin Mak of Toronto; Col. Ernest Stoakley of Mississauga, Ontario; and Col. Timothy Zack of Elma, New York. Also attending were Col. Lautens’s wife Rhea and Col. Stoakley’s wife Susan.
Photo: the encampment holds the Kentucky flag in the Wings Room of the Royal Canadian Military Institute.
An American Civil War veterans association, the Grand Army of the Republic, had a tradition of badges and medals for its encampments. To emulate this tradition, the commander of the Kentucky Colonels Toronto encampment, Col. Mak, created a decoration called the Kentucky-Toronto Friendship Star as a memento of the encampment. It resembles a breast star of an order of chivalry .
Each person attending the encampment received a Star and an accompanying certificate. The Colonels in Toronto also voted unanimously to award the Star to the Hon. Steve Beshear, Governor of Kentucky; Col. Glen Bastin, Senior Ambassador of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels; and science fiction author Col. John-Allen Price of Lewiston, New York, who could not attend the encampment because he was driving a U.S. military veteran to a hospital for a surgery.
When Colonel Derwin Mak, commander of the encampment, discussed the menu with the maitre d’ of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, the maitre d’ recommended the soup of lobster bisque versus Col. Mak’s plebeian preference for minestrone soup. The maitre d’ also strongly suggested that Col. Mak choose a dessert of brandy snap basket with assorted ice creams and sorbets. And so the menu chosen was:
Lobster bisque
Breast of chicken Wellington
Seasonal vegetables
Roasted mini red potatoes
Brandy snap basket with assorted ice creams and sorbets
Port
Coffee and tea
The food was excellent, as usual with the Royal Canadian Military Institute.
The next evening, the Priory of St. James of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, an order of chivalry, held its annual investiture dinner at the Royal Canadian Military Institute. The Knights Templar also had a lobster bisque soup and a dessert of brandy snap basket with assorted ice creams and sorbets. A coincidence?
All Colonels present at the encampment agreed that they should hold another encampment in spring 2009 at the latest, though all also agreed to avoid the snowy season.