BLESMA

Blesma, The Limbless Veterans

Formation	1930s
Type	Charity
Purpose	Supporting wounded and limbless British Armed Forces servicemen and women
Region served	United Kingdom
Chief Executive Officer	Barry Le Grys, MBE
Website	www.blesma.org

Blesma, The Limbless Veterans (formerly known as the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association), helps all serving and ex-Service men and women who have lost limbs, or lost the use of limbs or eyes, to rebuild their lives by providing rehabilitation activities and welfare support. It operates throughout the United Kingdom and is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (number 1084189).

In the immediate aftermath of the World War I, veterans who had lost limbs came together in groups, determined to help themselves, if society would not help them.

The first such group was in Glasgow, and in 1921 they created the first branch of the Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association. Soon groups formed in Edinburgh, Dundee, Hamilton and Aberdeen. Officers of the Scottish LESMA established contact with limbless ex-Servicemen in the North of England, and in 1929, branches were formed in Manchester, Leeds, Hull, Burnley, Accrington, Southport, Oldham, Bradford, Halifax and Wigan.

The English branches, however, became dissatisfied with Scottish control and asked for a proper constitution to provide for the democratic election of officers and an executive council. The English branches convened a round table meeting in Leeds in 1931 where it was decided to form the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association, with the first Annual Conference being held in Manchester in 1932.

It was not until the commencement of World War II that branches formed in the South of England but by the end of the war there were 43 groups.

The number of branches reached their peak in the mid-1950s when there were a total of 124. As the number of surviving veterans from the World War I declined, so did the number of branches. This trend continued with the passing of the World War II generation, and today only 13 branches remain.

Blesma was granted armorial bearings in 1958 by the College of Arms. They consist of a shield with a blue ground (representing peace), on which is a sun, for the ‘place in the sun’ the Association seeks to secure for its members. On the sun is a cross potent – an ancient heraldic form associated with the Crusades, particularly with the Crusaders’ Kingdom of Jerusalem. This is composed of four crutch-heads in the colours of the services – blue for the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, and red for the Army and the Royal Marines. These are joined together to represent limbless service personnel from the four services united in the Association. The Motto is ‘Service and Fortitude’.