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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Gordon Reed

In memory of:

Lance Corporal Gordon Reed

June 6, 1944

Military Service


Service Number:

B/79124

Age:

23

Force:

Army

Unit:

Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, R.C.I.C.

Additional Information


Born:

May 21, 1921
Acton, Ontario

Enlistment:

June 25, 1940
Toronto, Ontario

Son of Phillip and Flora Reed of Toronto, Ontario.

Brother of Rifleman Douglas Reed, who died the same day while serving with the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada.

Commemorated on Page 424 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:
Grave Reference:

I. A. 16.

Location:

Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery is about 1 kilometre east of the village of Reviers, on the Creully-Tailleville-Ouistreham road (D.35). Reviers is a village and commune in the Department of the Calvados. It is located 15 kilometres north-west of Caen and 18 kilometres east of Bayeux and 3.5 kilometres south of Courseulles, a village on the sea coast. The village of Beny-sur-Mer is some 2 kilometres south-east of the cemetery. The bus service between Caen and Arromanches (via Reviers and Ver-sur-Mer) passes the cemetery.

It was on the coast just to the north that the 3rd Canadian Division landed on 6th June 1944; on that day, 335 officers and men of that division were killed in action or died of wounds. In this cemetery are the graves of Canadians who gave their lives in the landings in Normandy and in the earlier stages of the subsequent campaign. Canadians who died during the final stages of the fighting in Normandy are buried in Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery.

There are a total of 2,048 burials in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery. There is also one special memorial erected to a soldier of the Canadian Infantry Corps who is known to have been buried in this cemetery, but the exact site of whose grave could not be located.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Digital Collection

Send us your images

  • Newspaper Clipping– Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me
  • Group Photo– Gordon and wife-to-be Margaret. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Group Photo– Brothers Gordon (left) and Douglas.
  • Family Photo– Gordon, Flora, Douglas and Ross Reed. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Medals Card– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Attestation paper– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Circumstances of death– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Letter– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Telegram– Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star February 1943. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Star June 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Newspaper clipping– From the Toronto Telegram September 1941. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me
  • Memorial– Remembering brothers lost … Brothers In Arms Memorial, Zonnebeke, BE … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens … May 2022
  • Photo of Gordon Reed– Corporal Reed enlisted in 1940 and joined The Queen's Own Rifles in 1941 in England. He served in Baker Company and was killed in the first assault wave at Bernieres-sur-mer.  His brother, Rifleman Douglas Reed, was also killed that day with the Regiment.
  • Gravemarker– Padre Cameron took this photo of Corporal Reed's gravemarker in June 1997 during a visit to Normandy.
  • Obituary– This obituary of brothers George and Douglas Reed was published in a Toronto newspaper in June 1944.
  • Grave Marker– Photo courtesy of Bruce MacFarlane
  • Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery– The Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, located at Reviers, about 4  kilometres from Juno Beach in Normandy, France. (J. Stephens)

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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