Located inland of the Juno Beach landing areas at Courseulles and Bernieres-sur-Mer, this is a well-kept cemetery as you’d expect from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
It’s the final resting place of 2.048 casualties. These are predominantly Canadian from the 3rd Division, but three British soldiers, a British airman, and a French resistance fighter who fought alongside the Canadians are also buried here.
There are 335 soldiers who were killed on D-Day June 6, 1944, with the rest falling during subsequent operations in Normandy. Sadly, there are 19 bodies which remain unidentified and are ‘Known Unto God’.
During the movement of bodies from field graves to this permanent site, the remains of Rifleman Jack Stewart of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, who was killed on D-Day, was misplaced and a special, single headstone stands aside from the others at the edge of the cemetery, stating ‘Buried Elsewhere in the This Cemetery’.
The Beny-sur-Mer cemetery is also the last resting place of nine sets of brothers, with three Westlake brothers from Toronto buried here.
Private George Westlake, of the North Novia Scotia Highlanders, was aged just 23 when he was killed in action on June 7 and his two brothers Albert (aged 26) and Thomas (aged 33) died four days later on June 11. Albert and Thomas – both Riflemen in the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada - were found next to each other and so were buried side-by-side.
The grave of Reverend/Captain Walter Brown – a Canadian chaplain from Ontario – can also be fond here. He was one of the first Chaplains to land in Normandy on June 6 and is reported to have been murdered by SS soldiers after he had surrendered, along with several prisoners of war. Reverend Brown’s body was recovered on July 11 and buried at Beny-sur-Mer. He was 33 years old.