Choloy, France

Details:

Date - 22 April 1960

The 22nd of April 1960 was indeed, a very sad day at Grostenquin France. A car accident, with six RCAF personnel, resulted in the death of five young airmen. The following detail pertaining to the accident has been accumulated from a number of sources - all of which were stationed at 2 Wing at the time of the accident.

One could say that this tragedy was the result of a bachelor party. An LAC, employed with 601 Telecom Squadron, was about to get married. A bachelor party had been arranged to celebrate his upcoming wedding. When the bachelor party was over, six of the participants decided they would continue the party in Saarbruken. The "groom-to-be" was invited along, but luckily, as it turned out, he declined. The group proceeded to Saarbrucken - partied some more and then decided to return to 2 Wing.

It has been reported that the car drove right through the border crossing, at high speed, without even slowing down. The accident took place on the Route National #3 on the way from Saarbrucken to 2 Wing. The vehicle would have proceeded through a small village called Stirling Wendel and continued towards the village of Forbach. The French made use of "traffic circles" or "islands" as a means of controlling traffic. It is uncertain as to exactly what may have happened, but speculation indicates that the vehicle, a large American style Mercury, failed to negotiate the turn thereby crashing into a solid concrete building. We have been advised that the car hit the building near the doorpost and that it more or less "folded" around the corner. It was at this location that the RCAF lost five young airmen.

A close friend commented: "I will never forget, a couple days later, in Choloy cemetery. There were many hundreds of airmen standing in the rain. No parents attending and all you could hear, besides the padre's prayers was the wailing of 3 or 4 women, friends of the deceased. Then came the last post and there wasn't a dry eye in the cemetery. At that moment I realized that we were saying farewell to our brothers".