BRETTEVILLE-SUR-LAIZE CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
Normandy British Commonwealth War Cemeteries in Calvados, France
2872 burials
2714 Canadian Army, 78 Canadian Army, 52 British Army, 22 Royal Air Force, 4 Royal Australian Air Force, 1 Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1 Non Commonwealth Army and 1 Non War Merchant Marine.
A total of 87 burials are unidentified.
Honours and Awards
1 Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1 Distinguished Fying Cross and Bar,
1 Distinguished Service Order and Bar, 1 Efficiency Decoration,
1 Military Medal and Bar, 1 Cross of the Legion of Honour (French)
2 Distinguished Flying Medals, 2 Distinguished Service Crosses (USA),
2 Distinguished Service Orders, 3 British Empire Medal,
4 Military Crosses, 5 Military Medals,
23 Mentioned in Despatches
Cemetery and Casualty Information
The cemetery was designed by architect Philip D. Hepworth and was built and is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The majority of the burials (2,792) in this cemetery are Canadian. Most (2,650) were killed in the later stages of the Normandy Campaign in July and August 1944. Some 42 different Canadian units are represented in this cemetery. 15 men where killed on D-Day, Tuesday 6th June 1944.
Casualties range from 16 to 52 years of age. Among those buried in this cemetery are 2 pairs of brother, 26 who also had a brother who was killed and 1 who had 2 brothers killed elsewhere during the Second World War. 3 served under an assumed alias. The area in front of the cemetery is named Place Gérard Doré, in honour of Gerard Dore who volunterred for the Canadian Army regiment Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal when he was 15 years old. Private Gerard Dore was killed on the 23rd July 1944, when he was only 16 years old, and now rests in this cemetery.
