Normandy American Cemetery

The first

The first American cemetery in France began on D-Day

On June 6, 1944 the 607th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company of the U.S. First Army established a temporary cemetery, the first American cemetery on French soil in World War II. The present cemetery was established a short distance to the east.

A choice

Families chose between bringing home and burial in France

Relatives of those in the temporary cemetery could choose repatriation of the remains for burial in the USA. If burial in France was chosen, reburial took place in the geometric rows seen today. British servicemen buried here were moved to the Bayeux war cemetery.

The land

The land is still French, lent without charge for as long as it is kept up

France has granted the United States a special concession to the land, for an unlimited duration, free of any charge or tax, as long as the United States maintains the cemetery. The land remains the property of the French State. The cemetery was dedicated on July 19, 1956.

The markers

The headstones are 9,238 crosses and 151 stars of David

The graves are marked by white Lasa marble headstones, 9,238 of them Latin crosses and 151 stars of David. Only these two kinds are present, since the U.S. Army then recognised only three religions. It is the most visited cemetery kept by the American Battle Monuments Commission, with one million visitors a year.

9,389gravesites on 172.5 acres

Those buried

9,389 American military dead lie on the bluff above Omaha Beach

The cemetery stands on a bluff above Omaha Beach and the English Channel. It contains the remains of 9,389 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and the operations that followed. It includes air crews shot down over France as early as 1942, and four American women.