LESJAVERK CHURCHYARD
Oppland
Norway
Location Information
Lesjaverk is a village in the province of Oppland. On entering the village from the south on the E136 the church is signed to the left. Turn left and cross over the railway. Bear left and follow the unmade road through the trees for about 1 kilometre. The Commonwealth war graves are situated to the far right of the church.
Historical Information
During the Second World War, Norway was of strategic importance to the Germans. Their invasion on 9 April 1940 was sudden and widespread and despite Allied intervention, the entire country was under German occupation by early June. Thereafter, Allied activity in Norway was confined to raids and special operations, with the Commonwealth air forces providing support to Norwegian resistance groups until the German capitulation in May 1945. There are no Commonwealth war cemeteries in Norway, those who died there being buried in civil cemeteries and churchyards. Lesjaverk Churchyard contains the the graves of three Commonwealth servicemen, one of them unidentified, who were killed in a troop train which was wrecked here in 1940.
Burial Details
1984619 Sapper Cyril William Jennings, 55 Field Company, Royal Engineers, died 1st May 1940.
2021984 Sapper John Stark Rankin, 55 Field Company, Royal Engineers, died 1st May 1940, aged 33. Son of John Stark Davidson and Mary Tennant Rankin; husband of Susanna Rankin, of Glasgow.
INSCRIPTION. IN MEMORY OF THE BELOVED HUSBAND OF SUSANNA STEVENSON
Cemetery pictures © Åge Jakobsen
Lesjaverk is a village in the province of Oppland. On entering the village from the south on the E136 the church is signed to the left. Turn left and cross over the railway. Bear left and follow the unmade road through the trees for about 1 kilometre. The Commonwealth war graves are situated to the far right of the church.
Historical Information
During the Second World War, Norway was of strategic importance to the Germans. Their invasion on 9 April 1940 was sudden and widespread and despite Allied intervention, the entire country was under German occupation by early June. Thereafter, Allied activity in Norway was confined to raids and special operations, with the Commonwealth air forces providing support to Norwegian resistance groups until the German capitulation in May 1945. There are no Commonwealth war cemeteries in Norway, those who died there being buried in civil cemeteries and churchyards. Lesjaverk Churchyard contains the the graves of three Commonwealth servicemen, one of them unidentified, who were killed in a troop train which was wrecked here in 1940.
Burial Details
1984619 Sapper Cyril William Jennings, 55 Field Company, Royal Engineers, died 1st May 1940.
2021984 Sapper John Stark Rankin, 55 Field Company, Royal Engineers, died 1st May 1940, aged 33. Son of John Stark Davidson and Mary Tennant Rankin; husband of Susanna Rankin, of Glasgow.
INSCRIPTION. IN MEMORY OF THE BELOVED HUSBAND OF SUSANNA STEVENSON
Cemetery pictures © Åge Jakobsen
