LAVAL (VALFLEURY) COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Mayenne
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 48.0702, Longitude: -0.75196
Location Information
Laval is the chief town and the seat of the Prefecture of the Department of the Mayenne 80 kilometres south-east of Rennes and 85 kilometres north-west of Le Mans. The Cemetery is on the eastern side of the town and has two main entrances: one of the main road to Mayenne and the other on the road to Le Mans. The Commonwealth graves are in two plots. One plot is in section A, to the right of the entrance on the Mayenne road; the other plot is in section E, at the opposite end of the cemetery on the left of the entrance in the Le Mans road. A main drive runs through the cemetery between the two entrances.
History Information
In 1939 Laval was one of the assembly areas of the British Expeditionary Force, the troops (the 1st Corps) beginning to arrive round Laval as early as September 22nd. The soldiers buried in this Cemetery died while serving in the area during the early months of the war. The airmen were the crews of two aircraft which crashed after the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. There are 20 Commonwealth burials of the 1939-1945 war here.
Casualties: United Kingdom 17, Australia 2, Canada 1. Total 20.
Laval is the chief town and the seat of the Prefecture of the Department of the Mayenne 80 kilometres south-east of Rennes and 85 kilometres north-west of Le Mans. The Cemetery is on the eastern side of the town and has two main entrances: one of the main road to Mayenne and the other on the road to Le Mans. The Commonwealth graves are in two plots. One plot is in section A, to the right of the entrance on the Mayenne road; the other plot is in section E, at the opposite end of the cemetery on the left of the entrance in the Le Mans road. A main drive runs through the cemetery between the two entrances.
History Information
In 1939 Laval was one of the assembly areas of the British Expeditionary Force, the troops (the 1st Corps) beginning to arrive round Laval as early as September 22nd. The soldiers buried in this Cemetery died while serving in the area during the early months of the war. The airmen were the crews of two aircraft which crashed after the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. There are 20 Commonwealth burials of the 1939-1945 war here.
Casualties: United Kingdom 17, Australia 2, Canada 1. Total 20.
J/89951 Pilot Officer
Fred Beales
10 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
10th June 1944, aged 20.
Son of Fred and Lily Beales, of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; husband of Ethel Joyce Beales, of Hamilton.
His headstone bears the inscription "And While He Lies In Peaceful Sleep His Memory We Shall Always Keep"
Fred Beales
10 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force
10th June 1944, aged 20.
Son of Fred and Lily Beales, of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; husband of Ethel Joyce Beales, of Hamilton.
His headstone bears the inscription "And While He Lies In Peaceful Sleep His Memory We Shall Always Keep"
