Row Upon Row

The Canadian War Cemetery in Groesbeek, The Netherlands contains the bodies of 2,338 Canadian soldiers who died in the Second World War. Many of them were first buried in Germany after the Rhineland battles but were reinterred here under the order of General H. D. G. Crerar who wanted no Canadians buried in German soil. Crerar was commander of Canadian land forces in Europe. The Groesbeek Memorial within the cemetery contains the names of 1,103 Commonwealth forces who died in northwest Europe between the crossing of the Seine River in August 1944 and the end of the war. Orland French photo

A Visitation of Americans

Most war cemeteries in Europe are pretty well deserted but not this one at Beny-sur-mer on the day we visited. Four tour buses waited in the parking lot while their American passengers wandered through the cemetery. Because all U.S. parks and cemeteries were closed because of government financial restrictions, the Americans had decided to come to the Canadian cemetery. Beny-sur-mer in Normandy is the final resting place for more than 2,000 soldiers and airmen, most of them Canadians who died in the landing at nearby Juno Beach on D-Day or in the fighting in the days that followed. Orland French photo