21 August 2014

3318426 Pte William Brawley, 5th Seaforth Highlanders



3318426 Private William Brawley of the 5th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders was one of 705 men and women to die on this day, seventy years ago. He died in France on the 21st August 1944 and is buried in the St Desir War Cemetery in Northern France. I've borrowed the image above from Michael Weening's blog. About the cemetery, The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes:

"The Allied offensive in north-western Europe began with the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944.

"St Desir War Cemetery is the most easterly of the Normandy cemeteries. For the most part, those buried here died in the final stages of the campaign, in pursuit of the German forces towards the Seine.

"The cemetery contains 598 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. 78 of these graves were brought in from Chartres (St Cheron) Communal Cemetery after the war, together with the four First World War burials now at St Desir."

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.