Lieutenant-Colonel P.C. Klaehn
Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa

He brought to his task of Commanding Officer all devotion to duty and considerable knowledge as a Machine Gunner, which has resulted in the Unit under his command attaining a very high standard of training … This officer, over and above his normal military duties, has contributed all his spare time to the organization and development of sports within my division.

(O.B.E. citation, 2 Sep 1943)

Born in Valleyfield, Quebec on 10 September 1895 and raised in Saskatchewan, Percy Carl Klaehn was a sportsman, teacher, and First World War veteran. He had enlisted in the 6th Universities Company out of North Battleford in June 1916 and joined the PPCLI on a reinforcement draft by the end of the year. He earned a commission in 1918 and rejoined the PPCLI during the final phase of the war. With the outbreak of the next war in 1939, Klaehn joined the Saskatoon Light Infantry as a captain.

Overseas he served as battalion adjutant and then to second-in-command but after a senior officers’ course, he transferred to the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa in June 1942 as the new commanding officer. His work reorganizing and training the machine gun battalion was recognized with an Order of the British Empire. He commanded the Camerons from the landings on D-Day through the Normandy campaign an accepted the German surrender of Calais.

Klaehn took over 8th Infantry Brigade after the death of acting brigadier T.C. Lewis on 17 October 1944. For a short time, he was one of the few First World War veterans in the Canadian Army to command a large formation in an active theatre. At the end of October, he was replaced by Brigadier J.A. Roberts. Klaehn was promoted to colonel and commandant of the Canadian School of Infantry in England. Major R.M. Ross commanded the Camerons through the final six months of the war and until demobilization.

After the war, Klaehn worked for Veterans Affairs and retired from the militia as a brigadier in 1958. He served as honorary colonel of the Saskatoon Light Infantry, was elected to the Saskatoon city council and served a partial term as mayor in 1963. He lost re-election the next year.

Klaehn died in Saskatoon on 8 May 1984.