Military service
Burial/memorial information
Lt.-Col. John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette, the commander of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, who was the first senior officer to be killed in action in France. He was 37. He was hit by an 83mm shell on June 17 while running to the assistance of a fellow officer, Capt. Harry Knight Eaton, fatally injured by a shell a moment before. The two officers were buried initially in a little Normandy churchyard.
Bessonette left behind his wife and four children, as well as his parents, R.V.C. and Edith M. Bessonette of Admirals Road. Bessonette received his education in Victoria and attended Royal Military College in Kingston. He held a commission in the militia and transferred to the permanent force in 1930. He was wounded during the Coventry blitz, after which he spent eight months in hospital in Canada. After returning to England, he commanded a unit that underwent commando training, and in 1942 was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and placed in command of the RCASC in the Canadian third division.
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Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
Digital gallery of
Lieutenant Colonel John Rupert Wilson Turner Bessonette
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In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 249 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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BENY-SUR-MER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY Calvados, France
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.
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The Poppy Design is a trademark of The Royal Canadian Legion (Dominion Command) and is used with permission. Click here to learn more about the poppy.
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