In 1979 the Dominion Vice President was approached by two Canadian ex-servicemen from Lahr, Germany when he was attending the annual Vimy Remembrance Ceremony in France. In effect it was to find out if the possibility existed that a Legion Branch could be started in Europe. As a result of this inquiry, Branch 001 in Söllingen Germany became the first Royal Canadian Branch formed outside of North America. Branch 002 in Lahr closely followed and a visit from the Dominion President in July 1980 brought two charters to Germany for the beginning.
In 1989 arrangements were made and the 3rd Branch was founded in Geilenkirchen, in North West Germany. The majority of the members in this Branch are from the Canadian Armed Forces serving with NATO AWACS Service or the Canadian Support Unit at the Niederheit Kaserne in Geilenkirchen. With three Branches now established in Germany we were officially granted the right to a Zone which began in May of 1990. In January of 2002 Branch 004 "Friends of Canada Branch" was formed in Lahr/Hugsweier. Recently Branch 004 moved to a new location in Kippenheim. In August 2003 Branch 005 was established appropriately named the "Liberation of the Netherlands Branch" and is located in the city of Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Following the formation of the Dutch Branch Dominion Command granted us the name change from Zone Germany to Zone Europe.
Even before reforming ourselves into a Zone in 1990 our Branches had always been involved in Remembrance Ceremonies in Europe. To give the average Canadian member of a Legion Branch in Canada an idea of what this involves, just take a look at the following activity record of the European Branches over the last 25 years.
Ceremonial Activity Record
The official "Canada / France Vimy Memorial Ceremony" held each year on the first Sunday before 11 November. A Colour Party from our Branches has been in attendance each year since 1979. In addition we have also attended the services in Vimy commemorating the 70th, 75th, 80th and most recently on 07 April 2002 the 85th Anniversaries of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the 50th and 60th Anniversary of the dedication of the Vimy Memorial.
On 01 July each year we attend the Official ceremonies at the "Newfoundland Memorial" at Beaumont Hamel, in France. Our Colour Parties have been in attendance each year since 1980. This also includes our participation at the ceremonies remembering the Battle of the Somme for the 5-year events of 1986, 1991, 1996 and 2001. Also in 1998 a special ceremony was held to commemorate the sites of Beaumont Hamel and Vimy Ridge as National Heritage Sites at which our colour party was in attendance.
The official "Liberation of Belgium Ceremony" held each year on the Sunday closest to 10 September in the Canadian War Cemetery in Adegem, Belgium. Our Zone Colour Party has attended this ceremony every year since 1981.
The official ceremonies held at Dieppe on a five-year basis have been part of our attendance program. Our Colour Party was in attendance for the 40th, 45th, 50th, 55th and 60th anniversary ceremonies in 1982, 1987, 1992 1997 and 2002.
Our Colour Party and members have also attended the "D Day Ceremonies in Normandy" on the occasion of the 40th, 45th, 50th and 55th anniversary ceremonies in the years 1984, 1989, 1995 and 1999. Occasionally we have traveled to Normandy for D Day on the off years ceremonies for the interest of our Military Legion Members who have never been there. In 1988 we were called upon by the Canadian Air Force Association to assist in the dedication of a memorial marker on the old Combat Airfield Sites used by the Canadians in World War II in the Normandy area. Every time we go to Normandy we do a special ceremony at the Abbaye d'Ardenne where the SS under the command of Kurt Meyer murdered twenty Canadian Soldiers that were prisoners of war.
At Ypres and Paschendale, Belgium our Colour Party has been in attendance at the 70th, 75th and 80th anniversary ceremonies with the British as the sole Canadian representative. This includes services at the Menin Gate in Ypres, the Canadian Memorial at Paschendale and the Tyne Cot Cemetery. In 1989 on the occasion of the 20,000 bugle call at the Menin Gate, Ypres our Colour party participated and led the street parade through Ypres as the representative of Canada. Most recently on Wednesday 31 October 2001 at 2000 hours we were again honoured as we attended the dedication that marked the 25,000 bugle calls.
On 05 May each year our Colour Party leads the commemorative parade through the streets of Wageningen, The Netherlands to honor the "Liberation of the Netherlands" and the surrender of the German Forces to the Canadians on 05 May 1945. We have done this parade every year since 1985, which was the 40th anniversary of the liberation. We have also been in attendance on the occasion of the 45th, 50th and 55th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands at which time we participated at most of the cemetery services.
In October of each year since 1985 we have been attending services arranged by the Royal British Legion Branches of the Netherlands and the Dutch Veterans Association.
The ceremony is called The Forgotten 450, as there are 450 locations in Holland where Allied Servicemen are buried. These burials are not in regular military cemeteries but are in local village cemeteries scattered through the country. Each year a new site is selected and those who are buried there are given a memorial service with wreath and floral dedications, so they are no longer forgotten. In recent years "The Forgotten" has been droped from the name since they are no longer forgotten.
Each year on the first Saturday of September the Branches in the Lahr/Baden area provide a colour party and a wreath laying group with piper to attend the French / Canadian ceremony at the French Cemeteries in Choloy, France. As well as Canadian graves from World War II there are post war graves here of Canadian Service members and their families who were stationed in France and Germany with NATO since the early 1950's.
In 1987, Branches 001 and 002 were invited to come to Paris to participate in the ceremony to rekindle the flame at the Arc de Triumph by the Canadian Ambassador to France. A bus was provided by CFB Lahr, which made it possible to bring 40 people to the ceremony. Accommodations were arranged at a French Military Barracks.
Following the end of the cold war when the wall went down in Berlin, Zone arranged a visit to East and West Berlin to visit the Commonwealth Cemeteries in Berlin and Postdam. In West Berlin are the graves of 530 Canadians from WW II. In Postdam is the graves of Canadians who died as prisoners of war from WW I. We were the first Canadians to visit a grave site in East Germany thanks to the assistance of the Royal British Legion in Berlin.
In September 1989 we rented a bus and with fourteen of our members we accompanied the official VA Canada "Veterans Pilgrimage to Italy". We traveled to all the cemetery services with our Colour Party taking part in all the ceremonies and laying wreaths on twelve occasions.
In September 1990 Branch 001 Söllingen, Germany twinned with the Frontier Branch 71 in Fort Erie, Ontario at a ceremony held there on that date. All Branches of Zone Europe formed a Twinning with the French Veterans Association, Ancien Combatant de la District de la Somme in June of 1997. Each year on the first Sunday of September a colour party travels to St. Blimont, France to remember the liberation of the district of the Somme by the Canadians in 1944.
In October 1992 three of our members accompanied a Royal British Legion group to the 50th anniversary of the Battle of El Alemain, Egypt. They participated at the services in Cairo, Alexandria, El Alemain and the German and Italian Memorials. Here they met the Prime Minister of Great Britain, John Major and the Duke of Kent. The members laid wreath for the Canadians in Cairo and Alexandria and a wreath for Canadian Airmen whose names appear on the memorial at El Alemain.
On 11 November 1992 we sent a colour party to the Commonwealth Cemetery in Marsailles, France to take part in the Royal British Legion Remembrance Day ceremony. Our aim was to remember those Canadians of the Devils Brigade who had lost their lives in the invasion of southern France in 1945.
In 1992 we provided a colour party to take part in a burial ceremony for a Canadian Airmen whose aircraft was found in a swamp area in Holland having been shot down in 1941. The funeral took place in the Canadian War Cemetery Bergen-Op-Zoom with our colour party and members of the Canadian Forces as pallbearers.
In July of 1993 four of our members traveled to Sicily by rail to take part in the 50th Anniversary of the landing in Sicily with the Canadian Ambassador and the Military Attaché from our embassy in Rome. Our group took part with our colour party at a ceremony in the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Catania conducted by the Royal British Legion and British Naval members from HMS Boxer. Following this ceremony our group with the Ambassador and our Military Attaché traveled up to the Canadian War Cemetery at Agira and later to the Canadian Memorial at Pachino.
In April 1994 five of our members were invited by the people of Faenza, Italy to take part in a remembrance ceremony being held at the Commonwealth Cemetery in the city. At this ceremony our group joined with the New Zeland Veterans from the New Zeland Maori Division, Veterans from England, the British and Indian Military Attaché’s. During the visit to Faenza our group was treated well by the Italian organizers as we visited a winery and several other places of interest.
In June of 1994 the dedication of a new Canadian War Memorial for those who died in the two wars was carried out by Her Majesty the Queen in Green Park, London. Our Zone provided a four man party for this event. The dedication included all of the members of the Royal Family. Following this dedication our members traveled on to Normandy to take part in the Day Ceremonies with other members from our three branches.
The Annual ceremony at Jahlay/Tegelot, Belgium where a memorial was erected by the local citizens to honor the crew of a Canadian bomber shot down during World War II. This memorial was inaugurated by the Canadian Embassy in Brussels in 1995 by a request from the Belgium people in this district of the country. The ceremony is looked after by Branch 003 in Geilenkirchen, Germany. The ceremony includes a church service, parades through the town and wreaths being laid. Following the ceremony in the town another short ceremony is done near the actual crash site where the Monument has been erected.
In November 1998, eight of our Zone Members traveled over to London to take part in the British Memorial Parade to the Whitehall Cenotaph and the following Remembrance Service in Albert Hall. Passes and other arrangements were made through the Regional Director of the Royal British Legion. Accommodations for the group were acquired through the Royal Air Force at Northold, England.
On 9 July 1999 a Colour Party traveled to the Nistos Valley Area in France on the Spanish border and took part in the Canadian Ceremony with approximately fifty people from RCL Branch 28 from Chatham, Ontario. In this group were also five members of the Peers family from Canada. On a request from Command last year, Zone had been tasked to prepare a plaque for the occasion of this ceremony. This Canadian pilot, Arthur Leslie Peers was killed in an air crash on 13 July 1944 along with his RAF Crew while on a supply mission to bring arms to the local Marquis of the Nistos Area. The plaque was brought to the crash site and the last resting place for these lost servicemen on the mountain Pic Douay and was presented to the mayor of the local villages of Nistos and Sacour for installation at the grave memorial. After a long climb to the top of Mount Pic Douay a Canadian Ceremony was held at the grave site monument which had been erected by the locals of Nistos and Sacour. This first ceremony held on the morning of 9 July was followed by a second ceremony conducted by the French on the morning of 10 July. In addition our Branch Colours and Piper paraded at a ceremony at the local museum in Montrjeau where a plaque was presented by a group from RCL Branch 28 from Chatham. The plaque was to the honour of FO Arthur Leslie Peers. A dinner was arranged for the evening of 9 July where we all attended with the people from Canada, Great Britain and France. On the evening of 10 July we attended a farewell to the people from Canada, and Great Britain.
On 14 and 15 August 1999, four members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 001 in Söllingen Germany visited the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Complex to lay a wreath and pay their respects. The Branch piper played the Lament at the memorial stone near Barrack Block 17 in the camp complex. Lest we forget.
Having received an invitation from VA Canada for our Zone Colour Party to participate the various events with the VA Canada contingent commemorating the 55 anniversary ceremonies the Netherlands. Our Colour party was able to accompany the Veterans visiting group at the services at the Westerbork Memorial and the Groningen City Hall Memorial on 3 May 2000, the Holten Cemetery Service on 4 May 2000 plus the Netherlands Vigil Ceremony at the Rhenen National Cemetery in the evening. In addition we marched in the Wageningen Parade with the Canadian Veterans Group on the 5 May 2000 and also the Liberation Parade in Apeldoorn on 7 May 2000. Also we were in attendance at the Groesbeek Memorial Service on 6 May 2000.
Zone had a contingent in attendance on 23 - 26 May 2000 for the occasion of the Burial of Private Carlson at Poziere, France and the transfer ceremony at Vimy for the unknown soldier to Canada.
29 Oct to 11 Nov 2001 visited the following cemetries and Zone provided a Colour Party for the following events. Memin Gate in Ypres, Passchendaele, Tyne Cot cemetery. Paraded with our Colour Party to a new memorial that was dedicated in honour of the men of the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Nova Scotia Highlanders who fell in the battle of Passchendaele.Went on to Konekke-Heist where we were me by a group of city officials where we laid a wreath at the Resistance Monument in a small but rather touching ceremony. Moved on to the spot where the Royal Canadian Engineers under the leadership of Sgt J.L. Hickman under heavy shellfire erected a Bailey Bridge on 31 Oct 1944 where Sgt Hickmann was mortally wounded. In tribute to him and his comrades the bridge was dedicated to his name. We visited the monument at Hoofdplaat on the Scheldt Esturay which is dedicated to the units of the 9th Infantry Brigade who landed there in October 1944.
We visited a memorial dedicated to the victims of an explosion that took place at a farm on Isabelleweg near the town of IJzendijke, the Netherlandy. Most of the 41 victims were from the 204 Armoured Assault Squadton, Royal Engineers. Ten of the victums were from the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps of the 7th Infantry Brigade.
Provided a Colour Party at the Canadian War Cemetery in Bergen-Op-Zoom the Netherlands for two Canadian Soldiers that were killed while serving with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment during Worle War II. Private Charles Beaudry from Dalhousie, New Brunswick and Private George Robert Barritt from Runciman, Saskatchewan, the latest two victims of "Operation Elephant" that took place in Kapelsche Veer, the Netherlands 26 - 29 January 1945.We moved to France where we provided a Colour Party for the Annual Remembrance Day Ceremonies at Beaumont-Hamel and Vimy. Finally it was back to Ypres where on a request from Dominion Command we laid a wreath on behalf of Canada on 11 November at the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Menin Gate.
2002 we attended the 60th Anniversary of the Raid on Dieppe and provided a Colour Party for the many ceremonies that took place in that week.
In the year 2003 and 2004 we provided a Colour Party for the many ceremonies in Germany, France and Belgium dedicated to the Post-War Military and Dependant Graves in Europe
The Legion Branch 001 has two Memorials of Remembrance. One now located in the town of Hugelsheim near the old Baden Söllingen Airfield, which was erected while the Air Force occupied the Base. The monument dedicated to all of those Canadians Serving Members who died on duty with NATO from 1953 until the Base closure in 1993. The monument was implemented and erected by Legion Branch 001. The other memorial is in the Branch cemetery plot in the local cemetery of the village of Söllingen. Remembrance Day services are carried out here each year.
The Legion Branch 002 is named the Benson & Harper Branch in memory of two Canadian Flyers who were shot down during The First World War near Lahr and were originally buried in the Bergfriedhof in Lahr. Later their bodies were reburied in a Commonwealth Cemetery near Kassel, Germany. Branch 002 had a memorial created and placed in the City of Lahr Cemetery, where they hold their annual remembrance ceremony. Since the formation of the "Friends of Canada" Branch 004 their members also join Branch 002 for a combined Remembrance Day Service.
Each year Branch 003 in Geilenkirchen attends the annual Remembrance Day service for the Canadian Armed Forces in Europe. This service is conducted each year under the organization direction of the Legion Branch 003 in the Canadian War Cemetery in Groesbeek, The Netherlands.
The "Liberation of the Netherlands" Branch 005 hold their annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at the National Monument in the city center of Apeldoorn.
Besides Berlin, members of our branches have visited Commonwealth Cemeteries in other parts of Germany. For example; Durnbach by Bad Tolz, Reichwald Forest, Sage, Cologne, Hanover, Celle, Reinburg, Kiel and Niederzwehren. The Canadian Cemetery in Werl, which contains the graves of servicemen and their family members who, died while serving with NATO as part of the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine).