Brendon John Scanlon

This story and photo is shared by the Trust with kind permission from Bjorn, Niels, Sjoerd, and Lotte Verlijsdonk, Deurne, Netherlands

An educational vacation in Normandy. July 2025 - Normandy - Villerville

We started our vacation in Normandy, with the aim of visiting all the Operation Overlord beaches to teach our children (a 7-year-old daughter and two sons aged 9 and 11) some history.
We did some homework beforehand and definitely wanted to see the remains of Mulberry B. We also wanted to visit Sainte-Mère-Église and Pointe du Hoc. To round off the trip, we intended to visit the largest military cemetery, Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, in Colleville-sur-Mer.

The first museum we visited was the Arromanches Museum, followed by a chance visit to the Longues-sur-Mer Battery. After a few other excursions (it is a vacation, after all), we visit the Overlord Museum in Colleville-sur-Mer, followed by the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église, famous for soldier John Steele, who remained hanging from the church tower during Operation Neptune.

Due to the bad weather that week, we took a trip to Dieppe, where Operation Jubilee ended disastrously for Canadian and British soldiers in 1942. On one of the last days, we wanted to visit Pointe du Hoc, but the children found the 1.5-hour drive too much, so we opted for a visit to the Mont Canisy Battery instead. As the holiday was coming to an end, a visit to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer was no longer feasible.

We still wanted to visit a military cemetery and found one in Tourgéville. Although this cemetery is the final resting place for many soldiers from WW1, soldiers from WW2 are also buried here. After processing our impressions, we decided together to take a photo of the gravestone of one of the fallen heroes. We “adopted” him so that we could research him at home and find out more about this person. Our eye fell on rifleman B.J. Scanlon, partly because of his young age when he died, this was a reason to choose him.

Once back at the campsite, we started our initial research and discovered that B.J. Scanlon was killed in a bombing raid at the intersection of Rue Hoche and Rue Victor Hugo in Deauville, along with Major Eric Johnston and Corporal Ernest Southam. On the bridge over the Touques River, there is a memorial plaque engraved with the names of these three fallen soldiers. Unfortunately, we don't have time to visit it.

After returning home to the Netherlands, we continued our search. We discovered that a detailed description of August 22, 1944, had been written by Dr. Beauregard. Major Johnston died on the way to the hospital that same evening. He also mentions a soldier whose legs he amputated. This soldier died on August 23. We suspect that this was B.J. Scanlon, but we cannot be certain.

Using a detailed drawing and description of the situation on August 22, 1944, we used Google Maps to digitally locate the place in question. The children are impressed and begin to reconstruct the situation in 1944 with the help of the drawing and we discover a plaque listing the names of four civilian victims. This leaves a lasting impression and we want to know more about B.J. Scanlon, but unfortunately we cannot find any photos or other information.
We continue our research and will definitely visit our ‘adopted’ soldier B.J. Scanlon on our next vacation and honour his memory.

British Normandy Memorial - Additonal Information

Unfortunately, Bjorn could not find a photo of Brendon Scanlon but he is continuing his research. If you are aware of one or you are related to Brendon we would love to hear from you so we can add to his story.

Major Johnston is mentioned in this story about Brendon Scanlon. Major Johnston's family sent us his story and you can read it here.