The Hemisphere: Back to Germany

Fourteen hundred men of Canada's 27th Infantry Brigade filed down a gangplank at Rotterdam one morning last week and paraded through a cold drizzle to the Stadhuis (city hall). There, Defense Minister Brooke Claxton formally turned the brigade over to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Said Ike: "I know you will be worthy representatives of your great country in this endeavor, which is to secure the peace."

The troops were the second contingent of the 27th to arrive; the rest of the 6,500 will reach the brigade base at Hanover, West Germany, by mid-December. Seizing the chance to tell Europeans about Canada's growing NATO role, Claxton announced plans to:

¶ Build four or five airfields in Germany for the eleven jet squadrons that the Royal Canadian Air Force has pledged to Eisenhower.

¶ Construct a permanent Canadian army base at Soest, on the edge of the Ruhr.

¶ Donate weapons for two more European infantry divisions, in addition to the three already outfitted in Italy, Belgium and The Netherlands.