N.L. bride says her Legion wedding reception was ruined — by a legionnaire’s outburst

A high-profile legionnaire is apologizing, and a new bride says her wedding reception was ruined following a profanity-laced outburst earlier this month at the Legion in Carbonear. October 3rd started out as expected for newlyweds Justin and Janelle Clark. They exchanged vows, and then about 100 people gathered at Legion Branch 23 in Carbonear for the wedding reception. The decorations were elaborate, the meals were tasty, the dance floor was hopping, but But just before midnight, the fun ended abruptly. Janelle was about to perform a traditional wedding reception ritual, the bouquet toss. That's when this man approached her and, for about a minute, shouted profanities, angrily pointed his finger, and threatened to shut down the party as the music played. The bride says she was afraid and humiliated, and used these words to describe Lawrence's behavior. Aggressive, erratic, unprofessional, and very, very disrespectful. This is Berkeley Lawrence, but he's no ordinary Legionnaire. Up until August, Lawrence was the Dominion President of the Royal Canadian Legion, the top post in the country for this century-old veteran support and community service organization. He served in the Army for 33 years and has played leading roles at Branch 23 for more than two decades. Two years ago, Lawrence was a key figure in the establishment of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On the night of the wedding reception, Lawrence was attending a separate event at the Legion. As he left, he witnessed people outside the building holding alcoholic beverages, which is not permitted. He admits he lost his cool, stormed back into the Legion, and came face-to-face with the bride. I handled it completely wrong. I lost control of my emotions. I swore at her. I swore at a few other people that came up to try to calm me down. I was loud, and it was not a good scene. Janelle was too shaken to carry on. She never tossed the bouquet. Justin never tossed the garter. And the party fizzled out. I, well, I was, as you can imagine, crying and humiliated in front of all my wedding guests. On Thursday night, Janelle told her story on Facebook. On Friday morning, she received this letter of apology from Berkeley Lawrence. And all I can do is apologize to everybody involved in this situation, to the bride, to the groom, to the people upstairs, to my legion, to my wife. It's not the way I behave normally. This incident now has absolutely ruined my life. An apology is not enough for Janelle Clark. She wanted Lawrence suspended from the legion, and she wanted some compensation. But the branch executive decided an apology was sufficient. And the branch president stands by Berkeley Lawrence. As far as I'm concerned, he is the number one in the Legion, and he will always be number one. Janelle Clark says her perfect wedding day ended on a sour note. And now she says she gets emotional every time she sees her wedding dress in the closet. Terry Roberts, CBC News, St. John's.