The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery is a cemetery

Cemetery

A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...

 containing predominantly Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 soldiers killed during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy

Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...

 in the Second World War. The Cemetery is located in and named after Bény-sur-Mer

Bény-sur-Mer

Bény-sur-Mer is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-World War II:Bény-sur-Mer was liberated on D-Day by Le Régiment de la Chaudière, the only French-speaking unit to take part in Operation Overlord. There was a gun battery located near the...

 in the Calvados

Calvados

The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...

 department, near Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

 in lower Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

. As is typical of war cemeteries in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, the grounds are beautifully landscaped and immaculately kept. Contained within the cemetery is a Cross of Sacrifice

Cross of Sacrifice

The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission and is usually present in Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or more graves. It is normally a freestanding four point limestone Latin cross in one of three sizes ranging in height from 18 to...

, a piece of architecture typical of memorials designed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...

.

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

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 graves and one French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 grave, for a total of 2049 markers. The French grave belongs to a French resistance

French Resistance

The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

 soldier named R. Guenard who fought and died alongside the Canadians and who had no known relatives. His marker is the grey cross visible in the lower left of the above picture and is inscribed "Mort pour la France- 19-7-1944". A closeup of Mr. Guenard's marker is shown to the right.

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 in the Battle for Caen

Battle for Caen

The Battle for Caen from June-August 1944 was a battle between Allied and German forces during the Battle of Normandy....

. The cemetery also contains soldiers who fell during the initial D-Day

D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

 assault of Juno Beach

Juno Beach

Juno or Juno Beach was one of five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. The sector spanned from Saint-Aubin, a village just east of the British Gold sector, to Courseulles, just west of the British Sword sector...

. The Canadian Prisoners of War

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 illegally executed at the Ardenne Abbey

Ardenne Abbey

Ardenne Abbey, "l'Abbaye d'Ardenne," or Abbaye Ardenne is the site of a Premonstratensian monastery in Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe, near Caen, France, containing a chapel built in 1121 and other medieval buildings....

 are interred here. It also contains the grave of Rev. (H/Capt) Walter Brown, chaplain to the 27th Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusiliers) and the only chaplain killed in cold blood in World War 2. Rev Brown was murdered on the night of June 6/7 by members of III/25th SS Panzer Grenedier Regt near Galmanche, but his body was not found until July 1944. Canadians killed later in the campaign were interred in the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery

Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery

The Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery is a Cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers killed during the later stages of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War...

.

Location

The cemetery is about 1 kilometre east of the village of Reviers, in the Calvados

Calvados

The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...

 department, on the Creully-Tailleville-Ouistreham road (D.35). It is located 15 kilometres northwest of Caen

Caen

Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....

, 18 kilometres east of Bayeux

Bayeux

Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France.Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.-Administration:Bayeux is a sub-prefecture of Calvados...

, and 3.5 kilometres south of Courseulles-sur-Mer

Courseulles-sur-Mer

Courseulles-sur-Mer is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.It is a popular tourist destination not only with locals but also with international visitors who come to tour the Normandy landing beaches...

. The village of Bény-sur-Mer

Bény-sur-Mer

Bény-sur-Mer is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-World War II:Bény-sur-Mer was liberated on D-Day by Le Régiment de la Chaudière, the only French-speaking unit to take part in Operation Overlord. There was a gun battery located near the...

 is some 2 kilometres southeast of the cemetery. The bus service between Caen and Arromanches (via Reviers and Ver-sur-Mer

Ver-sur-Mer

-References:*...

) 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

D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

locations in the area. The cemetery is easy to find, and plenty of parking is available.