RANVILLE CHURCHYARD
Calvados
France
GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 49.23199, Longitude: -0.25785
Location Information
Ranville is best reached by taking the D513 northeastwards out of Caen and after about 9 kilometres turning left at Herouvillette. Go north for one kilometre and then turn left into Ranville village. The Churchyard is on Rue des Airbornes.
Visiting Information
Ranville Churchyard is locked from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. each day.
Historical Information
The Allied offensive in northern Europe began with the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944.
Ranville was the first village to be liberated in France when the bridge over the Caen Canal was captured intact in the early hours of 6 June by troops of the 6th Airborne Division, who were landed nearby by parachute and glider. Many of the division's casualties are buried in Ranville War Cemetery and the adjoining churchyard
The CEMETERY contains 2,236 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 90 of them unidentified. There are also 323 German graves and a few burials of other nationalities.
Total Burials: 2,566.
World War Two Commonwealth Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 2,059, Canada 76, New Zealand 3, Australia 2, . Total 2,140.
German World War Two Casualties: 323.
Ranville Churchyard contains 47 Commonwealth burials, one of which is unidentified, and one unidentified German grave.
Total Burials: 48.
Ranville is best reached by taking the D513 northeastwards out of Caen and after about 9 kilometres turning left at Herouvillette. Go north for one kilometre and then turn left into Ranville village. The Churchyard is on Rue des Airbornes.
Visiting Information
Ranville Churchyard is locked from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. each day.
Historical Information
The Allied offensive in northern Europe began with the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944.
Ranville was the first village to be liberated in France when the bridge over the Caen Canal was captured intact in the early hours of 6 June by troops of the 6th Airborne Division, who were landed nearby by parachute and glider. Many of the division's casualties are buried in Ranville War Cemetery and the adjoining churchyard
The CEMETERY contains 2,236 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 90 of them unidentified. There are also 323 German graves and a few burials of other nationalities.
Total Burials: 2,566.
World War Two Commonwealth Identified Casualties: United Kingdom 2,059, Canada 76, New Zealand 3, Australia 2, . Total 2,140.
German World War Two Casualties: 323.
Ranville Churchyard contains 47 Commonwealth burials, one of which is unidentified, and one unidentified German grave.
Total Burials: 48.
Images in gallery below © Werner Van Caneghem
14554052 Private
Edward Blackburn
12th (10th Bn. The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regt.]) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C.
7th June 1944, aged 20.
Grave 4.
Edward Blackburn
12th (10th Bn. The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regt.]) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C.
7th June 1944, aged 20.
Grave 4.
271123 Lieutenant
John Wynne Howe Blower
2 Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty. Royal Artillery
10th June 1944, aged 30.
Grave 2.
Son of John and Edith Blower, of Pett, Sussex.
His headstone bears the inscription "Greater Love Hath No Man Than This, That A Man Lay Down His Life For His Friends"
John Wynne Howe Blower
2 Airlanding Anti-Tank Bty. Royal Artillery
10th June 1944, aged 30.
Grave 2.
Son of John and Edith Blower, of Pett, Sussex.
His headstone bears the inscription "Greater Love Hath No Man Than This, That A Man Lay Down His Life For His Friends"
4279711 Corporal
Samuel Andrew Brandon
12th (10th Bn. The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regt.]) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A. A. C.
6th June 1944, aged 23.
Grave 15.
.
Samuel Andrew Brandon
12th (10th Bn. The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regt.]) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A. A. C.
6th June 1944, aged 23.
Grave 15.
.
237676 Lieutenant
Denham Brotheridge, Mentioned in Despatches
2nd Airborne Bn., Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry,
6th June 1944 aged 29.
Grave 43.
Son of Herbert Charles and Lilian Brotheridge, of Smethwick, Staffordshire; husband of Maggie Brotheridge, of Smethwick.
(Often considered to be the first allied soldier to be killed on D. Day).
His headstone bears the inscription "Out Of Bitterness Of War He Found Perfect Peace"
Denham Brotheridge, Mentioned in Despatches
2nd Airborne Bn., Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry,
6th June 1944 aged 29.
Grave 43.
Son of Herbert Charles and Lilian Brotheridge, of Smethwick, Staffordshire; husband of Maggie Brotheridge, of Smethwick.
(Often considered to be the first allied soldier to be killed on D. Day).
His headstone bears the inscription "Out Of Bitterness Of War He Found Perfect Peace"
Images in gallery below © Werner Van Caneghem
3248522 Signalman
David Colquhoun
6th Airborne Div. Sigs. Royal Corps of Signals
6th June 1944, aged 25.
Grave 11.
Son of Thomas and Isabella Gardiner Colquhoun, of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire.
His headstone bears the inscription "For David, After He Had Served His Own Generation By The Will Of God Fell On Sleep"
David Colquhoun
6th Airborne Div. Sigs. Royal Corps of Signals
6th June 1944, aged 25.
Grave 11.
Son of Thomas and Isabella Gardiner Colquhoun, of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire.
His headstone bears the inscription "For David, After He Had Served His Own Generation By The Will Of God Fell On Sleep"
4343040 Sergeant
Frank Milburn, D. C. M.
12th (10th Bn. The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regt.]) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A. A. C.
6th June 1944, aged 29.
Grave 42.
Son of Pte. Harold Milburn, The East Yorkshire Regt. (killed in action in France, 30th September, 1915 and commmemorated on the Loos Memorial), and of Florence Amelia Milburn, of Greenside, Co. Durham.
His headstone bears the inscription "May The Pleasures He Missed In Life's Highway Be Found In God's Heaven Of Rest"
Frank Milburn, D. C. M.
12th (10th Bn. The Green Howards [Yorkshire Regt.]) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A. A. C.
6th June 1944, aged 29.
Grave 42.
Son of Pte. Harold Milburn, The East Yorkshire Regt. (killed in action in France, 30th September, 1915 and commmemorated on the Loos Memorial), and of Florence Amelia Milburn, of Greenside, Co. Durham.
His headstone bears the inscription "May The Pleasures He Missed In Life's Highway Be Found In God's Heaven Of Rest"
5680493 Sergeant
James Harry Nash
1st Wing, The Glider Pilot Regiment, A.A.C.
6th June 1944, aged 24.
Grave 44.
Son of Harry and Mary Nash, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
His headstone bears the inscription "Not Forgotten"
James Harry Nash
1st Wing, The Glider Pilot Regiment, A.A.C.
6th June 1944, aged 24.
Grave 44.
Son of Harry and Mary Nash, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
His headstone bears the inscription "Not Forgotten"
3651896 Corporal
John William Parker
13th (2/4th Bn. The South Lancashire Regt.) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A. A. C.
7th June 1944, aged 34.
Grave 24.
Son of William and Annie Parker; husband of Dorothy L. Parker, of Totton, Hampshire.
John William Parker
13th (2/4th Bn. The South Lancashire Regt.) Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A. A. C.
7th June 1944, aged 34.
Grave 24.
Son of William and Annie Parker; husband of Dorothy L. Parker, of Totton, Hampshire.
