Canadian War Cemetery
TIME : 2016/2/22 10:52:26
Canadian War Cemetery
The Juno Beach Center is Normandy's only Canadian museum, but there are two locations where Canada's heroes from the Battle of Normandy have been laid to rest: The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, and the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery. The former honors soldiers from earlier in the battle – on and just after D-Day - while the former is for soldiers who gave their lives later on.
Like many of Normandy's WWII battle sites and memorials, Bény-sur-Mer is about a half-hour from Bayeux, which many visitors make as their base from which to explore the region. Bretteville-sur-Laize is about 40 minutes away, just behind Caen. Both of them are considered in the “opposite” direction from most of the most important sites, and so can be ignored by those on a fast-track tour of Normandy. But both sites deserve to be given their due.
Both cemeteries are technically on Canadian territory, as France granted the lands to Canada in perpetuity so that they could have a permanent place to bury their heroes. The grounds are maintained by Veterans Affairs Canada.
At the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery there are over 2,000 grave sites, including one of a Frenchman who fought alongside Canadian soldiers and had no next of kin to claim his body. And at the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery are 2,700 graves. They are solemn places meant to remember the fallen; for learning about Canada's role in the Battle of Normandy, head to the Juno Beach Center.
