British War Cemeteries

In Bayeux is one of the largest of many British war cemeteries. The majority of the 4,868 graves are British but in total 11 nationalities are represented here and in a gesture of reconciliation several hundred of the graves are German .

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintain the grounds. The families of dead were invited to suggest inscriptions which are engraved on the simple white tombstones. ( there were none on the American tombstones ). Many of these inscriptions are very moving and made you feel very humble . So so many young men died ...so many families paid a huge price .

These three tombstones are of New Zealanders who died in 1944. Brewer and Edmonds were two of the names .