Hockey commentator Don Cherry was at a rare loss for words Tuesday when discussing his coming induction into the Royal Canadian Legion as an honorary life member.

Cherry will join some elite company this Saturday when he will become just the 40th life member in the Legion's 81-year history in a special ceremony in Kingston, Ont.

For years, the man nicknamed "Grapes" has defended and trumpeted Canadian troops on talk radio shows, in print, and especially on his "Coach's Corner" segments on Hockey Night in Canada.

Cherry, 73, told CTV Newsnet he was humbled by the honour.

"I'm thrilled and get chills over it, but I kind of feel funny that I'm getting honoured like this, and I think of all the guys overseas in Afghanistan. But it is quite an honour, because . . . if we didn't have the fellas and the girls in the Legion, we wouldn't be here today," Cherry said in a phone interview from his home in Mississauga, Ont.

"These are the guys that are in the pits that did the fighting."

Legion president John Frost told the Kingston Whig-Standard that Cherry's commitment in defending and supporting the troops got the attention of an unidentified Legion member from B.C., who nominated Cherry for the honour.

The Legion's Dominion executive council voted unanimously to give Cherry the honour, putting the Canadian celebrity in company that includes the likes of Mackenzie King, John Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson and Dwight Eisenhower.

In an interview with Newsnet anchor Kate Wheeler, Cherry seemed taken aback when asked whether he knew the official term of address for all Legion members was "comrade."

"Where did we pick that one up? I never knew that. Well, I don't think I'll be calling them comrades," said Cherry, who has made more than a few critical remarks against Russian hockey players in his career as a commentator.

"I didn't know that one, comrade. You got me on that one."

Cherry recounted how a "Coaches Corner" segment last Remembrance Day was the most difficult one he's ever done. He had planned to show the photos of every Canadian soldier who died in Afghanistan, but in the end became too emotional to do the commentary.

"I walked in (before the show) and I said, 'So what you have got so far?' And I sat at the front and watched, and I had to leave the room. To see all these beautiful boys and girls and everybody, I tell you, if that didn't break your heart I don't know what would."