Watch above: Canadian Pte. Albert Laubenstein now has a final resting place, 70 years after he was killed in Europe in the closing months of World War II.
BERGEN-OP-ZOOM, Netherlands – A Saskatchewan casualty of the Second World War has finally been laid to rest. Pte. Albert Laubenstein made the ultimate sacrifice seven decades ago and was given a proper military burial Wednesday in Europe.
He was born in Saskatoon on March 28, 1914 and joined the Canadian Army in 1940.
While serving overseas with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, Pte. Laubenstein was killed during the Battle of Kapelsche Veer against German forces on Jan. 26, 1945. He was 30 years old.
Laubenstein’s body was interred in a battlefield grave but, in the chaos that followed the end of the war, that grave was thought to be lost forever. In 2014, a metal detector hobbyist discovered human remains on a riverbank near Sprang-Capelle, Netherlands.
READ MORE: Remains of Second World War soldier from Sask. identified in Europe
The discovery was reported to the recovery and identification unit (RIU) of the Royal Netherlands Army who undertook an exhumation.
Canadian Army dental records, in part, allowed the RIU to identify Laubenstein. Royal Canadian Dental Corps’ forensic dentists and auxiliaries verified the identification.
At the Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands, the Saskatoon man was laid to rest with military honours on Wednesday. Fellow members of his regiment are also buried there.
In attendance at the funeral was his nephew, Glen Laubenstein, from Victoria, B.C., and Glen Laubenstein’s daughter, Sarah Penton, from Winnipeg, as well as representatives from the federal government and the Canadian Armed Forces.
“Pte. Albert Laubenstein’s military burial today provided us the opportunity to honour his courage and sacrifice with dignity,” said Defence Minister Jason Kenney.
“We are finally able to pay tribute to this Canadian hero and demonstrate to his family that this sacrifice will not be forgotten.”
Laubenstein’s name is recorded on the Groesbeek Memorial in the Netherlands, which commemorates over 1,000 members of the Commonwealth land forces whose graves are not known.
This month marks both the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands and the end of World War II in Europe and Laubenstein’s sacrifice for his country is included in commemoration ceremonies.
READ MORE: PM Harper remembers Canadian soldiers on Victory in Europe Day in Netherlands
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