U.S. Military Out Of France

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 17

U.S. Military Out Of France

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter—Copy right J PARIS, March 15. The American flag was lowered for the last time at a ceremony yesterday marking the departure of United States European Command headquarters from France in compliance with General de Gaulle’s eviction order a year ago.

The military band sounded “To The Colours” as the flag which had flown over the Camp des Loges at St. Ger-main-en-Laye near Paris, for the last 13 years, fluttered to the ground

The flag was then flown by United States Army helicopter—to keep it in American hands—to Stuttgart, West Germany, where it will be raised tomorrow morning over the new Command Headquarters.

President de Gaulle last year pulled France out of N.A.T.O.’s integrated military commands and ordered the United States military off French soil

United States officials say the shift, officially completed yesterday, will mean an annual loss of 200 million dol-

lars to the French Government.

General Lyman Lemnitzer, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, took the salute at yesterday’s ceremony, attended by American and French officers and men' from three services.

The hand-over of some 190 military establishments—in which there was an officially estimated United States capital investment of 640 million dollars—to French authorities is also nearing completion. A controversial aspect of the withdrawal is the loss of jobs by about 19,000 French local employees The United States Government has paid about five .uillion dollars in compensation but there were demonstrations against the French Government for failing to offer them new work.