Location Details

Canada has played an integral role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since its inception on 4 April 1949 with Bases and Wings in both France and the north of West Germany. In 1966 the French government announced the withdrawal of their military forces from NATO which resulted in the withdrawal of NATO forces stationed in France. Lahr, Germany became the new home for 1Wing and 1 Air Division Headquarters, Metz in facilities formerly occupied by the French forces. The move of the operational equipment was accomplished by March 1967 with families moving later in the year.

This was also the time when Canada set new defence priorities and with them, the decision to reduce of the size of the NATO brigade and to garrison it in southern Germany. In October 1970 the brigade group garrisoned at Werl and surrounding towns moved to Lahr.

Lahr is located in a valley on the edge of the Black Forest and the Rhine Plain on the main north-south route of the A-5 motorway (autobahn) 20 kilometers from Offenburg and 35 kilometers from Strasbourg, France.

Service members and their families posted to Lahr often made their homes in the surrounding villages. Kippenheim, located close by to Lahr had many Canadian families in their community.

Unlike most of North America, cemetery plots in Europe are not acquired in perpetuity but are leased for a specific time. Two children, Kevin DeLaurier and James Kennedy had been buried in the municipal cemetery in Kippenheim. Over time their graves were lost.

Canada has entered into a 50-year agreement with the Municipality of Kippenheim for the maintenance of a Memorial Cairn. This Memorial Cairn bears the names of the two children and also the name of Mabel Huggan who lived in a neighbouring town and whose grave was also lost. A dedication ceremony was held in 2004.

Background Information on these sites has been extracted from: the Pinetree Line Web Site; the 2 (F) Wing RCAF Grostenquin, France Information Booklet (1957); publication 4 CMBG Canada's NATO Brigade, 1983, Moritz Schauenburg Gmbh & Co. KG.