General Navereau School

General Navereau Schools at Metz, 1955-1967. 

by Gordon MacKinnon

 In 1951 during the Cold War and the Korean War, the Canadian government agreed to station an army brigade and an air division of twelve squadrons in Europe. By the summer of 1953 these Canadian NATO forces were in place. The RCAF had four Wings at bases with Sabre jets and CF 100’s. Air Division headquarters, temporarily located in Paris, was moved in April 1953 to the historic city of Metz to a chateau with spacious grounds. By Metz standards the Château de Mercy was modern having been constructed in the early 1900’s on the site of a much older chateau that had been burned to the ground in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. At first the soldiers and airmen were sent for six month postings without dependents. Not surprisingly this policy had a very negative effect on morale! Many wives with children followed their husbands to France and Germany at their own expense, calculating that six months in Europe was likely to be more stimulating and educational then waiting with the kids on a base somewhere in Canada. Temporary ad hoc schools started with mothers with teaching experience as volunteer teachers. The Department of National Defence changed this  policy in 1953. Dependents were sent with the military and a posting of four years was substituted. A system of schools had to be created. 

Metz in 1954 was still recovering from the Second World War. The city itself had been spared heavy bombing during the Battle of Metz, September-November 1944, because the strongly defended forts around the city were the target of General Patton’s troops and the large French civilian population in the city precluded saturation bombing for morale and political reasons. Nevertheless the need to rebuild after the war meant that housing was in short supply. The PMQ’s didn’t exist and the first families to arrive had to take what they could find. Tony Humphreys’ father was in the Special Investigation Unit and arrived in October, 1954. They could not find anyplace in Metz and Tony and his mother had to go to England and stay with a relative where young Tony briefly attended a Church of England school. They returned when his father found a flat over a butcher shop in Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg, about 45 kilometres from Metz. Tony was enrolled in a one room school across the border in the French village of Mondorff to which he walked every day. Here he spent what should have been Grade Three in rigorous French immersion since he knew no French and the tyrannical Instituteur resorted frequently to the rod as an instructional aid. By 1955 the family had found a place on the rue des Pépinières in Metz and Tony had graduated to the Canadian school in the Hotel Capri. The Eakins family were also among the earliest arrivals: F/L Eakins was in charge of procuring supplies and equipment for refurbishing the chateau base. They lived in Ancy-sur-Moselle about 20 kilometres from the Chateau and Barb and Jim attended French school in the village run by priests and nuns who had little sympathy for their ignorance of the French language. Jim remembers being taught writing by using squared graph paper. It is standard pedagogy in France to teach pupils cursive handwriting by making them write each letter and figure so they touch all four sides of the square. The teachers also made free use of the rod “pour encourager les étudiants”. In addition the Eakins kids worked on the Ontario Department of Education Correspondence Courses under their mother’s supervision as homework. These courses were designed for home schooling students in remote locations in Ontario far from schools in an era before school buses. When completed, they were sent to Toronto for correction and comment. By 1955 the Eakins family had moved close to the base and was living in the recently established trailer park at Peltre and attending school at the Hotel Capri. Gail Young (now Rooke) attended Grades 10 to 12 on the base from 1955-57. Each day she drove one hour with her father from their home in Mondorf-les-Bains.

It was decided that teachers to staff these new schools would not be hired directly by the Department of National Defence (DND) but would be on loan from school boards across Canada for a period of two years with extensions possible if the teacher applied and the home board and the DND concurred. They would be paid by their home boards, would keep their seniority and pension rights with their Canadian boards and DND would compensate the boards for the teachers’ salaries and would pay travel expenses and living allowances. They were subject to the military Code of Service Discipline and could be court martialed.  Teachers directly employed by DND for its schools on bases in Canada were also eligible under the same contractual conditions. All except principals, who were housed with their families in PMQ’s, were required to be single because only single accommodation was available on the bases. However, when all the teachers in Metz had to live “on the economy” in French accommodation in Metz after 1961 and because of a teacher shortage across Canada, this rule was relaxed and married teachers were frequently appointed. Teachers were given honourary officer status which allowed them to use the Officers’ Mess. Curriculum in the schools followed that of Ontario and students completing Grade 13 would write the Ontario Department of Education final examinations.

 Metz was the most heavily fortified city in Europe and the centre of the most important military region of France. The school was named “General Navereau” after the French Military Governor of Metz and officially opened in October, 1956 by General Navereau and Air Vice Marshal H.B. Godwin, the AOC of 1 Air Division. It had been relocated from the Base to the school near the PMQ’s at the ruined remnants of Fort Bellecroix, built in 1730.  The high school was in one building and the junior school in another. Previously for the school year 1954-1955 temporary accommodation had been found in the Hotel Capri near the Église Ste-Thèrese, the church of contemporary design on the way to the American base at Colin Caserne. The following year, 1955-1956, all grades were in a converted barrack building near the Officers’ Mess on the Base at the Château de Mercy and students were bussed there. In September 1960 increasing numbers of students necessitated the transfer of Grades 9-13 back to the former school on the Base. The high school used only part of the building for classes and a few teachers continued to live in the other section. From September 1961 increasing numbers of students made it necessary to use the entire building for classes; by September 1962 there were about 200 students registered in the high school grades and about 500 in K to 8 in the junior school.  Because of an RCAF rule that all adult males had to wear either military uniform or civilian jacket and tie while on the base except in the PX, recreation centre and Snack Bar and because of the proximity to the Officers’ Mess where visiting dignitaries might expect to see only well dressed young people, it was decided that the high school students would be required to wear school uniforms.

There was only one principal for Kindergarten to Grade 13 until the division into two schools in 1960. M.J. Snider was principal from 1956-58 and Captain K.L. Miller in 58-60. Mr. Snider recorded in the 1957 yearbook “To the graduating class: the largest in our history…”- a total of seven graduates! Jack Harris was principal of the Junior School from 1960 to 1962 and Mike Zaharia was in charge of the Senior School. Subsequent junior school principals were Gordon Barrett (62-64), Walter Kitley (64-65) and Alex Jardine (65-67). In the high school F.J. MacNamara (62-65) succeeded Mike Zaharia and Al Fasan (65-67) was the last GNHS principal.

In the early 1960’s the French authorities decided to build a fourth lycée for Metz to be named Lycée Robert-Schuman at Metz-Queuleu. The Canadian government negotiated and paid for the construction of a separate building to house the Canadian high school on the lycée campus.  Agreements were made to share the physical education facilities, theréfectoire, and to allow Canadians to use the dormitory if desired. These arrangements were never completely carried out. The high school moved to the new Lycée Géneral Navereau High School in the summer of 1965 and the school building on the base became the MIR (Medical Inspection Room). Students did use the réfectoire for their hot lunch but the French cuisine was sometimes strange to Canadian students and on one memorable occasion all the servings of little calves’ brains were returned uneaten to the kitchen. The hot lunch in the réfectoire became optional and most students ate their home made lunches on trestle tables in the school. Students continued to eat at the réfectoire  until 1967, perhaps encouraged by the light beer that was always an optional drink. Physical education classes continued to be held at the Rec. Centre at the Base. Only two Canadians stayed in the dormitory and their stay was not pleasant. The Junior School continued at Fort Bellecroix with the exception that in 1967 the two Grade 8 classes were taught at the high school building because of space requirements. These classes were an integral part of the high school for discipline, attendance, etc. but the delivery of the curriculum continued to be supervised by the Junior School principal. 

DeGaulle’s decision to discontinue Canadian and American NATO bases on French territory led to the closing of both schools in 1967. Many of the students and some of the teachers moved to the new base in Lahr, Germany and the General Navereau Junior and Senior Schools ceased to exist. The buildings at Fort Bellecroix are today operated asécoles maternelles et primaires by the French educational authorities. The chateau and buildings on its extensive grounds reverted to the French military and the old school building near the former Canadian Officers’ Mess is still used as barracks today. The high school building in the lycée complex continues to function as a part of the Lycée Robert-Schuman and is called l’annexe Navereau.

 Latest revisions:  15 October 2003

Gordon MacKinnon was a history teacher at the high school from 1962-66 and vice-principal from 1963-66. Additional information regarding the General Navereau schools can be found on the Message Board under Topics “Mondorf-les Bains”, “History of our School” and “School by Correspondence”. Suggestions and new material may be posted there. Material on Mike Zaharia’s role in the schools is at the In Memoriam location.