It was windy and cool with rain the day Canadians gathered at the War Memorial in Ottawa on Vimy Day 2010 to honor the passing of Canada's last World War I veteran , George Babcock. A snow shower shortly before the ceremony was a modest reminder of the snow and sleet the soldiers endured at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. As a central part of the ceremony, Babcock's descendants passed the flame of remembrance to the ceremony leaders . the Army and Navy Veterans (ANV) and the Royal Canadian Legion, as representatives of the veterans who sacrificed themselves for Canada in its wars. The establishment of the Legion was Turner's last major service to Canada acting first as a figurehead and then as an effective leader in the unification of the major fragmented veterans organizations, except one, into the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League and later into the Royal Canadian Legion. By 1925, the veterans movement split into multiple camps ranging from broad-based organizations that aspired to universal representation to those with restrictive membership, such as blind veterans. The result was a disjointed movement with little political power or influence, routinely underfunded, and unable to effectively represent veterans' interests. Despite repeated attempts at unification and merger, the Canadian veterans movement was on the verge of collapse and irrelevance due to the fragmentation of veterans' organizations – a fate not unwelcome to the government. Before the war, in addition to some regimental associations, the ANV was eligible to join the sole representative of veterans' interests and any veteran serving in the British or Canadian service. During the war, the first new veterans organization...... middle of paper...... Winning the Second Battle: Canadian Veterans and the Return to Civilian Life, 1915-1930: 197.Jack Jarvie and Diana Swift , The Royal Canadian Legion, 1926-1986 (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Discovery Books, 1985), 27.Cook, The Madman and the Butcher: 314.Great War Veterans Association Minute Book, 30 June 1925, MG 28 I298 v1, LAC.Report of the Proceedings of the Conference of National Unity and Draft Constitution, file 44, MG 28 I298 v43, LAC."Ontario Veterans to Meet", Montreal Gazette, 15 April 1926.Ltr. Griesbach to Currie, 21 December 1925, File 4, MG 30 E100 v27, Currie Fonds; LAC.Currie, the principal of McGill University, was in poor health at the time and his correspondence was answered by a McGill University official. Ltr. Turner to Currie, June 3, 1928; Ltr. Turner Acting Director, 5 June 1928w, File 69, MG 30 E100 v19, Currie Fonds; LAC.