Canadian Private Albert Laubenstein has found a final resting place, 70 years after he was killed during the Allied advance through the Netherlands in the closing months of World War II.
Laubenstein was buried with military honours on Wednesday at the Canadian War Cemetery some 70 kilometres from where he fought and died in a battle amid canals and rivers to drive the Germans back east.
Born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Laubenstein was killed in action during the Battle of Kapelsche Veer on 26 January 1945.
He was originally buried in a battlefield grave, the location of which had been lost, but his remains were discovered in June 2014, by a metal detector hobbyist scanning the southern bank of the river Maas near Sprang-Capelle, Netherlands.
A Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, one ribbon (1939-1943 Star), eight 9mm cartridges and a silver ring inscribed with the letter “G” were discovered in his battlefield grave.
Attending the reburial was his nephew Glen Laubenstein, 65, from Victoria, British Columbia, and his daughter, Sarah Penton, 39, from Winnipeg, Canada.
Laubenstein’s burial was one of the highlights of a week of remembrances and celebrations to mark Canada’s part in the liberation of the Netherlands.
Some 7,600 Canadians died in the Netherlands while helping to liberate the nation from Nazi oppression.
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