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Cambridge American Cemetery

and Memorial

American Battle Monuments Commission
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LOCATION

The Cambridge American Cemetery 

and Memorial is situated three miles 

west of the university city of 

Cambridge, on highway A-1303 and 

60 miles north of London, England.

There is frequent train service 

between Cambridge and London’s 

King’s Cross and Liverpool Street 

Stations. Travel time is about 1- 1⁄2 

hours. Taxicab service is available at 

the Cambridge Station.

The cemetery may be reached by automobile in about 2 1⁄4 hours from London, via 

highway M-11 and exit 13. There are excellent hotels in the city of Cambridge. 

HOURS

The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm except December 25 

and January 1. It is open on host country holidays. When the cemetery is open to the 

public, a staff member is on duty in the Visitors’ Building to answer questions and escort 

relatives to grave and memorialization sites.

HISTORY

When the United States entered World War II, it was apparent that Germany, with its 

great military and industrial strength, posed the strongest threat of the Axis powers and 

should be dealt with first. Its defeat hinged on achieving four major objectives, for each 

of which effective use of Great Britain was a key factor. In the attainment of these 

objectives, the country became a vast supply depot, military base, air base and training 

and staging facility. During the war, more than 17 million tons of cargo and nearly two 

million servicemen and women from the United States passed through British ports. 

Many military bases and training areas were established throughout the British Isles to 

receive the forces which later were to achieve such spectacular results on the beaches of 

Normandy. At the same time, airfields were enlarged and additional bases constructed 

for use by U.S. Army Air Forces. 

The first objective in the war against Germany was to provide the United Kingdom 

with the resources needed to carry on until sufficient men, materials and supplies could 

be assembled for a cross-channel invasion of Europe. To do so, the Atlantic sea-lanes 

had to be made safe for the passage of Allied convoys between Great Britain and the 
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United States. The battle for the Atlantic continued from 1939 to 1945, when the last 

German U-boats surrendered. This costly, but generally successful, struggle gave the 

Allies control of the sea lanes between the United States and Great Britain, which was 

essential to the success of Allied operations in Europe.

The second objective was to aid and sustain other nations actively engaged against 

the Axis, particularly the U.S.S.R., which at the time was receiving the brunt of the 

enemy’s land assaults. A “second front” was opened in North Africa in November 1942 

to relieve the pressure against the U.S.S.R. Allied forces from bases in both Great Britain 

and the United States landed in North Africa and fought their way inland in the face of 

determined enemy resistance. Six months later, victory in North Africa was achieved 

when all enemy forces there surrendered. The operations in North Africa were followed 

by Allied landings in Sicily, Salerno and Anzio during 1943 and 1944. Victories in 

Sicily and Italy were paralleled by Soviet successes in the East, with the winning of the 

battle for Stalingrad in February 1943 and the liberation of Sevastopol in May 1944. One 

month later, Allied forces entered Rome, and the landing in Normandy commenced.

The third objective during the war against Germany was to conduct an intensive 

strategic bombardment of Germany in order to destroy its military, industrial and 

economic systems. Achievement of this objective depended on the use of air bases 

within the British Isles. As the airfields were constructed and expanded, the air war 

against Germany intensified. The first American strategic bombing against a target in 

Europe took place in August 1942. By the end of the war, more than one half million 

sorties against targets in western Europe were flown by British-based American aircraft.
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The final objective was to invade the European continent and defeat the enemy on 

its historic battlefields. U.S. and British Commonwealth forces landed on the beaches of 

Normandy on 6 June 1944 in what was to be the greatest amphibious operation in the 

history of warfare. Supported by U.S. and British aircraft, the Allied ground forces 

fought their way across France and crossed into Germany in September of 1944.

With the Allied victory in Europe on 8 May 1945, the struggle against the enemy in 

the Pacific was intensified. Confronted by overwhelming military superiority, its major 

cities devastated and weakened by the defeat of the Axis in Europe, Japan surrendered on 

2 September 1945.

THE SITE

The Cambridge American Cemetery, 30.5 acres in extent, is one of fourteen permanent 

American World War II military cemetery memorials erected on foreign soil by the 

American Battle Monuments Commission.

It was established as a temporary military cemetery in 1943 on land donated by the 

University of Cambridge. The site was later selected as the only permanent American 

World War II military cemetery in the British Isles and was dedicated 16 July 1956. 

About 42 percent of those temporarily interred in England and Northern Ireland during 

the war were reinterred in the Cambridge American Cemetery. A high proportion of 

these 3,812 American servicemen and women were crew members of British-based 

American aircraft. Most of the others interred at the cemetery died in the invasions of 
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North Africa and France, in the training areas of the United Kingdom and in the waters of 

the Atlantic.

The cemetery is situated on the north slope of a hill from which Ely Cathedral, 14 

miles distant, can be seen on clear days. It is framed by woodland on the west and south; 

the road to Madingley runs along the cemetery’s northern boundary.

ARCHITECTS

Architects for the cemetery were Perry, Shaw, Hepburn and Dean of Boston, 

Massachusetts. The landscape architects were Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, 

Massachusetts.

GENERAL LAYOUT

The main entrance is at the southwest corner of the cemetery. Immediately inside it is the 

Visitors’ Building. On the porch wall of the Visitors’ Building is a bronze tablet from the 

grateful people of the English communities of Cheshunt and Waltham Cross which 

honors the members of an American bomber crew who sacrificed themselves in order to 

avoid abandoning their disabled aircraft over these communities.
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Just beyond the Visitors’ Building is a 72-foot flagpole on a tall platform whose 

base is inscribed with the following quotation from John McCrae’s poem, In Flanders 

Fields: 

TO YOU FROM FAILING HANDS

WE THROW THE TORCH –

BE YOURS TO HOLD IT HIGH

The platform affords an excellent view of the cemetery.

The great mall, with its reflecting pools bordered by polyantha roses, stretches 

eastward from the flagpole platform to the Memorial at the opposite end. Along the 

south side of the mall are the Tablets of the Missing. The north side, toward the graves 

area, is lined with a single row of double-pink hawthorn trees.

The west mall stretches northward from the flagpole platform to the lower gates of 

the cemetery and the service area. The broad walk passes between rows of Japanese 

pagoda trees. The grave plots lie between the two malls. From the lower end of the west 

mall, a gravel walk turns to the right and follows the curve of the lower plot toward the 

Memorial. In this area are planted Rose of Sharon, firethorn, forsythia and cotoneaster.

THE MEMORIAL

The Memorial structure is of Portland stone, as are St. Paul’s Cathedral and many other 

monumental buildings in London. It is 85 feet long, 30 feet wide and 28 feet high. On 
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the north face of the Memorial are five pylons, each inscribed with one of the years from 

1941 to 1945, during which the Unites States participated in World War II. Above these 

pylons runs the inscription:

GRANT UNTO THEM O LORD ETERNAL REST

Below the bronze rope railing on the north face balcony is inscribed:

IN GRATEFUL TRIBUTE TO THEIR SACRIFICE AND

IN PROUD MEMORY OF THEIR VALOR

The entrance to the Memorial at the west end is framed by two pylons. On the 

pediment above them is the dedication:

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND

IN MEMORY OF THOSE

WHO DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY

1941-1945

The main entrance doors are of 

teakwood. They bear bronze models of 

the following military equipment and 

naval vessels:

Military Equipment

Armored Scout Car M8

Truck 1⁄4 Ton 4x4 

90 Millimeter Antiaircraft Gun

155 Millimeter Gun M2

Medium Tank M4

Motor Carriage, Multiple Gun, M16

Amphibious Truck 2 1⁄2 Ton DUKW

105 Millimeter Howitzer

Naval Vessels

Destroyer

Light Cruiser

Attack Transport

Landing ship, Tank

Battleship

Escort Carrier

On the south exterior wall of the 

Memorial is a great map of the United Kingdom with the inscription:
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THESE AND MANY OTHER SITES WERE LENT BY

THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

TO THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

IN ORDER THAT THEY MIGHT PREPARE AND SUPPORT

THEIR GREAT MILITARY ASSAULTS

1941-1945

It depicts each location in the United Kingdom where an American unit of battalion or 

larger size was stationed during World War II. The places where units of brigade size or 

larger were stationed are indicated by name. The map also shows the principal air and 

sea approach routes to Great Britain from the United States, and the invasion routes to 

North Africa in 1942 and to Normandy in 1944. It is embellished with the sculptured 

coats of arms of the United States and the United Kingdom. The significance of the signs 

and colors used is explained in the legend. Worksheets for the map were furnished by the 

American Battle Monuments Commission; execution was by the English artist David 

Kindersley of Cambridge.

The interior of the Memorial is separated into a large museum room and a small 

devotional chapel at the far end. The outstanding feature of the museum room is its 

impressive map “The Mastery of the Atlantic – The Great Air Assault.” The map was 

designed by the American artist Herbert Gute from data prepared by the American Battle 
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Monuments Commission and indicates the principal sea routes across the Atlantic and the 

types of naval and commercial craft which bore men and munitions to Europe from the 

United States. It also recalls the aircraft which operated in the anti-submarine campaign. 

The continuous air assaults by the U.S. and Royal Air Force over Europe are also 

depicted. Symbolic air lanes indicate their routes from both England and Italy to the 

various target, whose nature military, industrial, transportation are explained in the 

legend. The map is 30 feet long, 18 feet high.

The wall bearing the map is of Portland stone. On the map, the lower land 

elevations are indicated in polished Portland stone, while the higher elevations are in 

polished Hauteville marble, Lunel Clair marble and Lunel Fonce marble, respectively. 

This unusual work of art was executed by David Kindersley’s workshop.

Below the map are seven plates, six of which contain key map recording the 

development of the war against Germany and the war against Japan. The seventh, a 

bronze plaque in the center, bears the following description of the operations portrayed 

by the great map:

THRUST INTO A GLOBAL WAR WITH THE AXIS POWERS, THE UNITED 

STATES, AT THE CLOSE OF 1941, MOVED TO STRENGTHEN ITS DEFENSE 

POSITIONS IN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. THE PROTECTION 

AND CONTROL OF SEA AND AIR ROUTES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, SO VITAL 

TO THE ALLIES’ HOPES OF VICTORY, WERE CONCERNS OF UNCEASING 

URGENCY. THE UNITED STATES NAVY JOINED WITH THE ROYAL NAVY IN 
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THIS BITTERLY CONTESTED BATTLE; U.S ARMY AND MARINE CORPS 

UNITS WERE DISPATCHED TO STRENGTHEN KEY OUTPOSTS IN THE NORTH 

ATLANTIC AND TO REINFORCE THE DEFENSE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 

WHILE THE ENEMY MADE EVERY EFFORT TO SEVER THE LIFELINES TO 

THE BRITISH ISLES, THE ALLIED NAVIES FOUGHT TO KEEP THE SEA LANES 

OPEN, TO CONVOY TROOPS AND MILITARY AND CIVILIAN SUPPLIES 

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC AND TO MAINTAIN THE LONG RUN TO NORTH 

RUSSIA TO SUSTAIN THE SOVIET FORCES.

CONTINUOUSLY THE ALLIES STROVE TO DEVELOP AND IMPROVE 

THEIR ANTISUBMARINE TACTICS, TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE ESCORT AND 

AIR COVERAGE TO THEIR CONVOYS. THE COORDINATED EMPLOYMENT 

OF LAND-BASED AIRPOWER AND OF ESCORT CARRIER AND DESTROYER 

GROUPS, TOGETHER WITH DEVELOPMENTS IN DETECTION DEVICES, 

GRADUALLY DROVE THE ENEMY’S SUBMARINES FROM THE PRINCIPAL 

SEA ROUTES.

THIS WAR OF ATTRITION ON, ABOVE, AND BELOW THE WATERS OF 

THE ATLANTIC STEADILY TURNED IN FAVOR OF THE ALLIES.

IN NOVEMBER 1942, ALLIED FORCES LANDED ON THE SHORES OF 

NORTH AFRICA. THIS SUCCESSFUL OPERATION INVOLVED THE 

SIMULTANEOUS DEBARKMENT OF ATTACK TEAMS TRANSPORTED FROM 

THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED KINGDOM.

THROUGHOUT THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC THE UNITED STATES 

ARMY AIR FORCES OVERSEAS CONTINUED TO GROW IN THE URGENT 

EFFORT TO BUILD OVERWHELMING AIR STRENGTH. THE FIRST AMERICAN 

STRATEGIC BOMBING MISSION WAS UNDERTAKEN IN AUGUST 1942. BY 

THE SUMMER OF 1943 THE U.S. EIGHTH AIR FORCE WAS CONDUCTING 

LARGE-SCALE DAYLIGHT BOMBING ATTACKS; THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 

CONTINUED TO FLY MISSIONS AT NIGHT. THE OBJECTIVE WAS THE 

PROGRESSIVE DISLOCATION AND DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMY’S 

MILITARY, INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM. EVER PRESENT WAS 

THE NECESSITY OF BEATING DOWN THE GERMAN FIGHTERS WHICH 

ATTACKED OUR HEAVY BOMBERS FIERCELY AND PERSISTENTLY.

WITH THE ALLIED LANDINGS IN ITALY IN SEPTEMBER 1943 CAME 

OPPORTUNITY FOR ATTACK FROM ANOTHER DIRECTION. THE U.S. 

FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE JOINED WITH THE EIGHTH TO FORM THE U.S. 

STRATEGIC AIR FORCES IN EUROPE. MASSIVE ATTACKS ON CRITICAL 

INDUSTRIAL TARGETS FORCED THE GERMAN AIR FORCE TO FIGHT FOR 

THEIR PROTECTION. IN A SERIES OF VIOLENT BATTLES THE ENEMY AIR 

ARM WAS BROKEN, NEVER AGAIN TO BE A SERIOUS MENACE IN MARCH 

1944 THE U.S. NINTH AIR FORCE AND THE BRITISH SECOND TACTICAL AIR 

FORCE INITIATED CONCENTRATED ATTACKS ON THE ENEMY’S 

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS AND COASTAL DEFENSES IN BELGIUM AND 

NORTHERN FRANCE. THE U.S. EIGHTH AIR FORCE, WHILE CONTINUING ITS 

STRATEGIC ATTACK, AUGMENTED THIS ASSAULT.

ON 6 JUNE 1944, ALLIED FORCES CROSSED THE ENGLISH CHANNEL TO 

STORM THE BEACHES OF NORMANDY IN THE GREATEST AMPHIBIOUS 
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OPERATION RECORDED IN HISTORY. THE ABSENCE OF SERIOUS NAVAL 

AND AIR OPPOSITION ATTESTED TO THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ALLIED 

OPERATIONS DURING THE LONG MONTHS OF PREPARATION THAT HAD 

PRECEDED THE LANDINGS. FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF THIS ASSAULT, 

THOUSANDS OF MEN AND MILLIONS OF TONS OF SUPPLIES WERE MOVED 

OVER THESE BEACHES THROUGH ARTIFICIALLY CREATED HARBORS. 

WITH NAVAL GUNFIRE AND AIR SUPPORT, BEACHEADS WERE 

CONSOLIDATED AND THE ALLIED ARMIES MOVED FORWARD.

THROUGH THE REMAINING MONTHS OF THE WAR THE ALLIED 

MILITARY STRENGTH CREW STEADILY AS TROOPS, EQUIPMENT AND 

SUPPLIES FLOWED ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. THE COMBINED BOMBER 

OFFENSIVE CONTINUED TO STRIKE AT STRATEGIC MILITARY AND 

INDUSTRIAL TARGETS WITH EVERMOUNTING INTENSITY AS THE GROUND 

FORCES PUSHED ONWARD INTO GERMANY.

ON 8 MAY 1945, 337 DAYS AFTER THE LANDINGS IN NORMANDY, 

CAME VICTORY IN EUROPE.

The seals of the War and Navy Departments as well as the principal decorations 

awarded by our Armed Services are depicted in glass panels beside and above the main 

door to the Memorial. The decorations shown are listed below:
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War Department

Air Medal

Distinguished Flying Cross

Silver Star

Distinguished Service Cross

Medal of Honor – Army

Distinguished Service Medal – Army

Soldier’s Medal

Navy Department

Purple Heart

Bronze Star

Legion of Merit

Navy Cross

Medal of Honor – Navy

Distinguished Service Medal – Navy

Navy and Marine Corps Medal
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The other windows of the Memorial contain stained-glass replicas of the seals of 

the States of the Union arranged from left to right, in the order in which they entered the 

Union. Above them are the seals of the United States (obverse and reverse), the District 

of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Over the teakwood doorway to the chapel 

is the following inscription in bronze characters: INTO THY HANDS O LORD.

The words FAITH and HOPE in bronze letters are set into the chancel rail in the 

chapel. A cloth of mail is spread over the Portland stone altar on which rests a large 

bronze cross. At the altar base rests the Tablets of Moses. Flanking the altar are two 

large ornamental candelabra, also embellished with mosaic.

A mosaic by Francis Scott Bradford of Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut depicting the 

Archangel trumpeting the arrival of the Resurrection and the Last Judgment covers the 

wall above the altar and continues across the entire ceiling of the Memorial, with pictures 

of ghostly aircraft, accompanied by mourning angels, making their final flight. The deep 

blue of the ceiling denotes the depth of infinity, while the lighter colors reflect the light of 

Heaven breaking through the earthly layers of the sky. The lighter nimbus surrounding 

each of the single-engine, twin-engine and four-engine aircraft separates them from 
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earthly forces while they carry the souls of the men who perished in the skies. Around 

the ceiling is the following inscription:

IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE MEN OF THE UNITED 

STATES ARMY AIR FORCE WHO FROM THESE FRIENDLY ISLES FLEW THEIR 

FINAL FLIGHT AND MET THEIR GOD. THEY KNEW NOT THE HOUR THE DAY 

NOR THE MANNER OF THEIR PASSING. WHEN FAR FROM HOME THEY 

WERE CALLED TO JOIN THAT HERIOIC BAND OF AIRMEN WHO HAD GONE 

BEFORE. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.

The ship and aircraft depicted above the altar memorialize the members of the 

navel sea and air forces who are buried or commemorated at the cemetery. The cross and 

Star of David symbolize those who are buried beneath the ground. Mourning angels and 

the inscription from the 23rd Psalm:

HE RESTORETH MY SOUL –

HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES

also enter into the design.
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THE TABLETS OF THE MISSING

The Table of the Missing are inscribed on a wall of Portland stone, a limestone quarried 

on the south coast of England, 472 feet in length. Recorded on the Tablets are the names 

and particulars of 5,126 Missing in Action, lost or buried at sea, or those “Unknowns” 

whose remains could not be positively identified prior to interment. They come from 

every state of the Union and the District of Columbia.

United States Army and Army Air Forces................3,524

United States Navy...................................................1,371

United States Coast Guard........................................ 201

United States Marine Corps...................................... 30

At the top of the wall above the names, running its full length, is the following 

extract from the dedication by President Eisenhower of the Golden Book enshrined in St. 

Paul’s Cathedral, London:

THE AMERICANS, WHOSE NAMES HERE APPEAR,

WERE PART OF THE PRICE THAT FREE MEN

FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THIS CENTURY

HAVE BEEN FORCED TO PAY TO DEFEND

HUMAN LIBERTY AND RIGHTS

ALL WHO SHALL HEREAFTER LIVE IN FREEDOM

WILL BE HERE REMINDED THAT TO THESE MEN AND THEIR COMRADES

WE OWE A DEBT TO BE PAID

WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR SACRIFICE

AND THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED

SHALL LIVE ETERNALLY

Along the wall are four statues designed by Wheeler Williams of New York, New 

York and carved by English craftsmen; a soldier, a sailor, an airman and a Coast 

Guardsman. The paving is of English York sandstone.

THE GRAVES AREA

The 3,809 headstones in the fan shaped graves area are arranged in seven curved grave 

plots, A-G. The headstones within the plots are aligned in seven rows of concentric arcs 

whose wide sweep across the green lawns may be best viewed from the mall near the 

Memorial. From the north edge of the flagpole platform another feature of the pattern is 

evident – the headstones are also aligned like the spokes of a wheel. Each grave plot is 

enclosed by a boxwood hedge with tulip trees, catalpa, beech, oak and liquidambar 

(sweetgum) also present.

These Dead, who gave their lives in our country’s service, came from every state in 

the Union, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Some also entered 

the services from Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, Greece, Holland, Malta, 

Norway, Panama, Portugal and Scotland. Twenty-four of the headstones mark the graves 

of “Unknowns.”
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Among the headstones are two which represent burials of two and three 

servicemen, respectively, whose names are known but who could not be separately 

identified. Their remains are buried together; bronze tables over the graves record their 

names.

VISITORS’ BUILDING

Immediately inside the main entrance to the cemetery is the Visitors’ Building. It 

contains the Superintendent’s office, toilet facilities and a comfortably furnished room 

where visitors may obtain information, sign the register and pause to refresh themselves. 

During visiting hours a member of the cemetery staff is available in the building to 

answer questions and provide information on burials and memorializations in the 

Commission’s cemeteries, accommodations in the vicinity, travel, local history and other 

items of interest.