Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery

Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery
Country:	France
Location:	Reviers
Coordinates:	49°18′9″N 0°27′1″W
Type:	Public
Owned by:	Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Number of gravesites:	2029
Number of unknowns:	19
Website:	Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery

The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery is a cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers killed during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. The Cemetery is located in and named after Bény-sur-Mer in the Calvados department, near Caen in lower Normandy.

History

Bény-sur-Mer was created as a permanent resting place for Canadian soldiers who had been temporarily interred in smaller plots close to where they fell. As is usual for war cemeteries or monuments, France granted Canada a perpetual concession to the land occupied by the cemetery. The graves contain soldiers from the Canadian 3rd Division and 15 Airmen killed in the Battle of Normandy. The cemetery also includes four British graves and one French grave, for a total of 2049 markers.

Because of confusion during the movement of remains from temporary cemeteries, the remains of one Canadian soldier were misplaced; his tombstone is set apart from the others, and bears an inscription stating that it is known that his remains are in the Bény-sur-Mer cemetery. Bény-sur-Mer contains the remains of 9 sets of brothers, a record for a Second World War cemetery.

A large number of dead in the cemetery were killed in early July 1944, when the Canadians were participating in the Battle for Caen, a particularly hard-fought battle which led to large numbers of casualties. The cemetery also contains soldiers who fell during the initial D-Day storming of Juno Beach. The Canadian Prisoners of War illegally executed at the Ardenne Abbey are interred here as well. Canadians killed later in the campaign were interred in the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery.

Location

The cemetery is about 1 kilometre east of the village of Reviers, in the Calvados department, on the Creully-Tailleville-Ouistreham road (D.35). It is located 15 kilometres northwest of Caen, 18 kilometres east of Bayeux, and 3.5 kilometres south of Courseulles-sur-Mer. The village of Bény-sur-Mer is some 2 kilometres southeast of the cemetery. The bus service between Caen and Arromanches (via Reviers and Ver-sur-Mer) passes the cemetery. The cemetery can be accessed any time, and tours of the cemetery are available through companies offering tours of historic D-Day locations in the area. The cemetery is easy to find, and plenty of parking is available.

"We Rest Here"

Original grave marker for L/Sgt Hannay

The following members of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals are buried here.

Headstone	Service Number	Rank and Name	Grave Location
	F95497	Sigmn FJ Armstrong	XI. G. 16.
	B132379	Sigmn JH Armstrong	X. H. 9.
	B110869	Sigmn WV Bolton	XIII. C. 5.
	H20284	Sigmn SF Brodie	XV. D. 5.
	A37249	Sigmn JD Crawford	XI. D. 9.
	B38550	Sigmn PM Crawford	XIII. A. 3.
	F29653	Sigmn HG Eisener	V. H. 1.
	D21035	Sigmn WK Gordon	XV. B. 7.
	M41933	Cpl LL Grittner	III. A. 5.
	C3526	Sgt A Hannay	XIII. A. 7.
	L20001	Sigmn DG Howes	XV. B. 9.
	B75064	Sigmn AJ Logan	XII. G. 14.
	A103763	Sigmn GR Luther	IX. E. 4.
	L100250	Sigmn ND Maclean	IV. G. 6.
	L110012	Sigmn CA Maguire	XVI. D. 11.
	C75693	Sigmn RRA Major	VI. A. 1.
	L74849	Sigmn LG Miller	XIV. F. 2.
	A2113	Sigmn GH Mole	XVI. A. 6.
	B32374	Sigmn PJB Mount	VII. C. 14.
	-	Lt RB Murchison	I. B. 6.
	-	Lt R Nicoletti	VI. D. 10.
	A55970	Sigmn JR Rhodes	XIV. D. 6.
	B32284	Cpl AE Shirlow	XII. F. 4.
	E10437	Sigmn P Simoneau	VII. E. 1.
	H38644	Sgt SW Smith	VII. C. 10.
	H102710	Sigmn WH Stanley	III. E. 12.
	C75648	LCpl EG Swan	V. E. 13.
	D116159	Sigmn WH Tadgell	X. H. 3.
	M41934	Cpl J Tolstad	XII. D. 13.
	F26430	LCpl FM Trainor	I. F. 13.
	A2384	Sigmn E Van Acker	XVI. H. 9.

See also

• Veterans Affairs Canada
• Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery