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Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial

American Battle Monuments Commission
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LOCATION

The Brittany American Cemetery and 

Memorial is situated about one-mile 

southeast of the village of St. James, 

Manche, France on highway N-798. St. 

James lies 12 miles/19 kilometers south 

of Avranches, 9 miles/15 kilometers 

southeast of Pontorson, 15 miles/25 

kilometers southeast of Mont St. Michel 

and 14 miles/22 kilometers north of 

Fougeres. It may be reached by automobile from Paris (201 miles/324 kilometers) in

about 5 1⁄2 hours via highway N-12 to Fougeres and thence north on N-798 to St. James.

Rail service to St. James is available from Gare Montparnasse (Gare du Maine) in 

Paris via Avranches or Pontorson with a change of trains at Folligny. The trip by rail also 

takes approximately 5 1⁄2 hours. Taxi service to the cemetery is available from the 

railroad stations in Avranches, Pontorson, and St. James. Bus service is available from 

Pontorson to St. James.

Avranches, Pontorson, Mont St. Michael, and Fourgeres have adequate hotel 

accommodations; those in the village of St. James are somewhat austere. 

HOURS

The cemetery is open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm except December 25 and January 1. 

It will be open during host country holidays. During weekdays, a staff member is on duty 

in the visitors’ Building to answer questions, and to escort relatives to grave or memorial 

sites.

HISTORY

Ground combat in northwestern France commenced with the Allied landing on the 

beaches of Normandy, 6 June 1944. During the early morning hours of darkness, three 

airborne divisions (the British 6th and the U.S. 82nd and 101st ) were dropped in the rear of 

the beach areas to cover deployment of the seaborne assault forces. Simultaneously, 

Allied naval forces swept the English Channel of mines and preceded the assault vessels 

to the landing areas. At 6:30 a.m., under the cover of intense naval and air bombardment.
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six U.S., British and Canadian divisions began landing on Utah, Omaha, Gold, June and 

Sword beaches in the greatest amphibious assault of recorded history.

The U.S. 4th Division pushed rapidly inland from Utah Beach to join the previously 

dropped airborne divisions. Its early success and light casualties contrasted sharply with 

those of the U.S. 1st and 29th Divisions on Omaha Beach to the east, where the enemy 

resisted with every device and weapon at his disposal. The configuration of Omaha 

Beach alone presented a major obstacle. Instead of sloping gently from the high ground 

to its rear, the beach area terminated in precipitous steep sandy bluffs. U.S. Troops had 

to cross an open area varying in width from a few yards at each end to about 200 yards in 

the center, and then attack up the steep bluffs to the plateau on which the Normandy 

American Cemetery now stands. The only concealment available was patches of tall 

marsh grass. Fighting was bitter and casualties heavy. Nevertheless, before D-Day was 

over, the U.S. 1st Division had taken the high ground to its front. To the east on Gold, 

Junno and Sword landing beaches, the British and Canadian divisions forged steadily 

ahead. Under the cover of continuous naval gunfire and air support, the landings’ first 

objective, to link together the individual beachheads, was accomplished within a week. 

During the same period, temporary anchorages and artificial harbors were created off the 

beachhead area by sinking ships and prefabricated concrete caissons to the channel floor, 

to facilitate the unloading of troops and supplies. As a result, the Allies were able to 

reinforce and increase the size and strength of their Armies rapidly. The second objective 

of the landings was to clear the Cotentin Peninsula with its port of Cherbourg and capture 

Caen and St. Lo. On 26 June, American troops freed Cherbourg; 13 days later on 9 July 

British and Canadian troops fought their way into Caen; and on 18 July 1944 Americans 

took St. Lo, accomplishing the second objective. The final objective was to break 
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through the ring of defenses that the 

enemy had established around the 

beaches. The stage was set for the 

breakout with a paralyzing air 

bombardment on 25 July by the U.S. 

Eighth and Ninth Air Forces and the 

Royal Air Force along a five mile front 

west of St. Lo. Aided by British forces 

pinning down the enemy in the eastern 

portion of the beach area toward Caen, 

the U.S. First Army stormed out of the 

beachhead liberating Coutances three 

days later. Within a week, the newly 

activated U.S. Third Army had cleared 

Avranches and was advancing toward 

Paris on a broad front with the First Army. The two armies fanned out westward toward 

Brest, southward toward the Loire, and eastward toward the Seine. On 7 August 1944, 

one week after the opening of the Avranches gap, a powerful counterattack was launched 

by the enemy, in an attempt to cut the columns of the advancing U.S. First and Third 

Armies. After initial success in the region of Mortain, the U.S. First Army was able to 

stem the counterattack and push back enemy forces.

In mid-august, enemy forces were threatened with encirclement by the U.S. Third 

Army which had turned northward from Le Mans, to meet the Canadian Army advancing 

southward from its beachhead. Despite desperate resistance by the enemy to prevent 

encirclement, the two Allied armies met at Chambois on 21 August. Enemy forces had 

the choice of remaining in the Falaise pocket or fleeing toward the Seine River in 

disorder. In a matter of days, U.S. Third Army troops were in the outskirts of Paris and it 

was liberated on 25 August 1944.

While these actions were taking place, the newly-formed Ninth U.S. Army relieved 

the third army units that had remained in Brittany and took over their mission of 

containing the strong enemy garrisons which still held out there. Although stubbornly 

contested, St. Malo fell to U.S. forces on 1 September and Brest on 18 September 1944. 

At this time, most of the U.S. Ninth Army was ordered to the German border where 

enemy resistance was stiffening. Some Ninth army units remained to contain the enemy 

garrisons at Lorient and St. Nazaire which did not surrender until 10 and 11 May 1945, 

respectively.

SITE

The Brittany American Cemetery, 28 acres in extent, lies among the hedgerows in rolling 

farm country near the border between the Brittany and Normandy regions of France. It is 

one of fourteen permanent American World War II military cemetery memorials erected 

by the American Battle Monuments Commission on foreign soil. The site was liberated 

on 2 August 1944 by the 8th Infantry Division; a temporary military cemetery was 

established on it three days later. Subsequently, the site was selected to be one of 
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fourteen permanent American World War II military cemeteries on foreign soil. After 

the war, when the temporary cemeteries were being disestablished by the American 

Graves Registration Service, the remains of American military Dead whose next of kin 

had requested interment on foreign soil were moved from the temporary cemeteries to 

one of the permanent cemetery sites, usually the one closest to the temporary location. 

The 4,410 American military Dead buried in the Brittany American Cemetery lost their 

lives in the area of northwestern France extending from the beachhead westward to Brest 

and eastward to the Seine and represent 43 percent of the burials originally made in the 

region. They were interred there by the American Graves Registration Service in the 

distinctive grave patterns proposed by the cemetery’s architect and approved by this 

Commission. Most of them died in the fighting in and around St. Lo.

The design and construction of all cemetery facilities in the permanent World War I 

and II cemeteries, were the responsibility of the American Battle Monuments 

Commission, i.e., the memorial, chapel, visitors’ building, superintendent’s quarters, 

service facilities and paths, roads and walls. The Commission was also responsible for 

the sculpture, landscaping and other improvements. Construction of the permanent 

cemetery memorial at Brittany was completed in 1956.

ARCHITECTS

Architect for the cemetery and its memorial was William T. Aldrich of Boston, 

Massachusetts. The landscape architects were Shurcliff and Shurcliff, also of Boston.

GENERAL LAYOUT

The main entrance of the cemetery is located on the south side of Highway N-798 across 

from the service area and the superintendent’s quarters. A short semi-circular driveway 

flanked by a low granite wall leads from the highway to the wrought iron main entrance 
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gate with its piers of gray granite. The driveway contains space for limited visitor 

parking and there is a small parking area across the highway.

Immediately inside the entrance gate, on the left, is the Visitors’ Building. A 

surfaced path, gently curving to the right, leads past the Visitors’ Building to the rear of 

the memorial chapel. In front of it is a terrace flanked by two flag poles Emanating from 

each side of the terrace, insert from the base of the flag poles and facing the graves area, 

is a low stone wall with tablets in which are engraved the names of the servicemen 

missing in action in the region.

Steps lead down from the rerrace in front of the chapel to the central mall lined 

with bottom boxwoods and European chestnut trees, which bisects the graves area into 

two groups of eight fanshaped plots. At the far (east) end of the mall is a rectangular 

stone cenotaph.

Inside the main entrance along the perimeter wall to the right is the assistant 

superintendent’s quarters.

THE MEMORIAL

The Memorial Chapel consists of an antechamber and tower, museum room and chancel. 

Typical of the ecclesiastical architecture of the region, it is Romanesque in design.

THE EXTERIOR

The exterior of the memorial is constructed of local La Pyrie granite. At its east end is a 

sculpture group, “Youth Triumphing Over Evil,” designed by Lee Lawrie of Easton, MD 

and executed in Chauvigny limestone from the Poitiers region by Jean Juge of Paris. 

Carved in its granite base is the inscription:
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I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT

*

I HAVE FINISHED MY COURSE

*

I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH

(2 Timothy IV, 7).

Over the entrance door is a 

sculpture group, also designed by Lee 

Lawrie and executed by Jean Juge, 

consisting of an eagle, shield, stars, laurel 

and arrows representing the Great Seal of 

the United States; the shield is flanked by 

two floating angels representing victory. 

The one to the left of the observer, 

wearing the Columbian cap, is in 

mourning. She holds in her right hand the 

laurel of the brave, and in her left hand 

the palm of sacrifice. The figure to the 

right is a triumphant Victory, clothed in 

mail and wearing a helmet. Her right

hand holds a sword, her left hand a 

trumpet. Below the sculpture over the 

tympanum is the inscription:

 

IN MEMORY OF

THE VALOR AND THE SACRIFICES

WHICH CONSECRATE THIS SOIL

ANTECHAMBER

Inside the main entrance door to the right of the antechamber is a small room with a 

stained-glass window in the north wall containing the figure of St. James of Compostello. 

On the east wall is engraved the dedicatory inscription in French and English, of which 

this is the English version:

1941-1945

*

IN PROUD REMEMBRANCE OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS

OF HER SONS AND IN HUMBLE TRIBUTE

TO THEIR SACRIFICES

THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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On the opposite wall is this prayer:

O GOD WHO ART THE AUTHOR OF PEACE

AND LOVER OF CONCORD,

DEFEND US THY HUMBLE SERVANTS

IN ALL ASSAULTS OF OUR ENEMIES,

THAT WE SURELY TRUSTING IN THY DEFENSE

MAY NOT FEAR THE POWER OF ANY ADVERSARIES

In the tympanum above the main entrance door is a stained-glass window 

containing the emblem of SHAEF – the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary 

Force.

To the left of the antechamber is the 

stairway leading to the tower. The tower 

has an overall height of 99 feet/30.2 

meters. The lookout platform, 63 

feet/19.2 meters above the ground, is 

reached from the antechamber by a 

stairway of 98 steps and landings. From 

the platform Mont St. Michel, 15 miles/24 

kilometers to the northwest, is visible on 

clear days. The tower also afford an 

impressive view of the stately pattern of 

the headstone extending before the 

memorial, as well as of the peaceful 

surrounding countryside.

MUSEUM ROOM

Beyond the antechamber is the museum 

room. Projecting from high on its north 

and south walls are the flags of the 

following components of our military 

services during World War II: Air Corps; 

Armor; Cavalry; Chemical Warfare 

Service; Coast Artillery Corps; Corps of 

Engineers; Field Artillery; Chaplains, 

Christian; Chaplains, Jewish; Infantry; 

Medical Department; Navy artillery 

Battalion; Navy Infantry Battalion; 

Ordnance Department; Quartermaster 

Corps; Signal Corps.

Immediately above the entrance 

door in the museum room are the 
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American, British, and French national flags, and the engraved inscription:

DUTY

*

HONOR

*

COUNTRY.

Within the museum room , on the interior wall flanking the doorway to the south, is 

engraved this extract from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer on the 

occasion of the invasion of Normandy:

ALMIGHTY GOD:

OUR SONS, PRIDE OF OUR NATION,

THIS DAY HAVE SET UPON A MIGHTY ENDEAVOR,

A STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE OUR REPUBLIC,

OUR RELIGION, AND OUR CIVILIZATION

THEY WILL BE SORE TRIED,

BY NIGHT AND BY DAY,

WITHOUT REST – UNTIL THE VICTORY IS WON.

SOME WILL NEVER RETURN.

EMBRACE THESE, FATHER,

AND RECEIVE THEM,

THY HEROIC SERVANTS,

INTO THY KINGDOM.

On the interior wall north of the doorway is engraved this extract from General 

Eisenhower’s final report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff:

MORE IMPORTANT THAN WEAPONS

WAS THE INDOMITABLE FIGHTING SPIRIT

OF THE MEN WHO WIELDED THEM.

THE COURAGE AND DEVOTION TO DUTY

WHICH THEY EXHIBITED THROUGHOUT THE CAMPAIGN

WERE UNSURPASSABLE.

TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES,

AND TO THOSE WHO BEAR THE WOUNDS OF BATTLE,

WE, THEIR COMRADES IN ARMS,

RENDER MOST GRATEFUL AND HUMBLE TRIBUTE.

Windows of stained glass, four on each side, portray the coasts of arms of eight 

towns or cities liberated during these operations; viz, Carentan, Cherbourg, St. Lo, Mont 

St. Michel, Mortain, Paris, Chartres, and Brest. Each window also illustrates a 

characteristic feature of the respective towns. The stained glass windows throughout the 

memorial were designed and fabricated by Francois Lorin of Chartres, France.
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On the north wall of the museum is the map, “The Breakout from the Beachhead 

and Advance to the Seine.” Both this map and the operations map on the south wall were 

designed by Edward Shenton of West Chester, PA, and fabricatedby the Earley Studios 

of Rosslyn, VA. The backgrounds are colored concretes with various brilliantly colored 

glass aggregates into which have been set bronze lettering, other metal features, enameled 

panels, etc. The map, “The Breakout from the Beachhead and Advance to the Seine,” is 

designed in perspective as seen from the south. It is flanked on its west end by the 

following explanatory inscription in English, on its East End by a similar explanatory 

inscription in French:

ON 6 JUNE 1944, UNITED STATES AND BRITISH COMMONWEALTH FORCES 

CROSSED THE ENGLISH CHANNEL TO ENTER OCCUPIED FRANCE THIS WAS 

THE CULMINATION OF MONTHS OF PREPARATION AND NATIONWIDE 

EFFORT. AS THE VAST ARMADA MOVED TOWARD THE NORMANDY 

BEACHES, ONE BRITISH AND TWO AMERICAN AIRBORNE DIVISIONS 

DROPPED IN THE DARKNESS TO COVER THE DEPLOYMENT FROM THE 

BEACHES. AT 0630 HOURS, UNDER COVER OF CONCENTRATED AERIAL 

AND NAVAL BOMBARDMENT, THREE AMERICAN, ONE CANADIAN, AND 

TWO BRITISH DIVISIONS STORMED ASHORE.

THE ASSALTING FORCES, DESPITE DESPERATE RESISTANCE, DROVE 

VALIANTLY INLAND AND WITHIN A WEEK LINKED UP INDIVIDUAL 

BEACHES. TURNING NORTH, AMERICAN UNITS, AIDED BY NAVAL AND AIR 

BOMBARDMENT, CAPTURED CHERBOURG WHILE OTHER ALLIED FORCES 

HACKED OUT THE BEACHHEAD TO A DEPTH OF 20 MILES AGAINST 

TENACTIOUS OPPOSITION IN THE AGGRESSIVELY DEFENDED HEDGEROWS. 

THE ENEMY’S EFFORTS TO RUSH REINFORCEMENTS TO HIS MENACED 

ARMIES WERE PERSISTENTLY DISRUPTED BY ATTACKS BY THE U.S. 

EIGHTH AND NINTH AIR FORCES AND THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, EXTENDING 

FAR TO HIS REAR, ON BRIDGES, HIGHWAYS, AND RAILROADS.

ON 25 JULY THE U.S. FIRST ARMY LAUNCHED THE ATTACK TO BREAK 

OUT OF THE BEACHHEAD. BLASTED ALONG A FIVE-MILE FRONT WEST OF 

ST. LO BY A PARALYZING AIR BOMBARDMENT, THE ENEMY GAVE WAY 

BEFORE THE FURIOUS GROUND ASSAULT WHICH FOLLOWED. JOINING IN 

THE ATTACK, THE U.S. THIRD ARMY THRUST RAPIDLY SOUTHWARD 

TOWARD THE LOIRE. NEAR MORTAIN A POWERFUL COUNTERATTACK, 

INTENDED BY THE GERMANS TO CUT OFF OUR ADVANCING COLUMNS, 

WAS REPULSED WITH HEAVY LOSSES. THEN, WHILE THE ARMIES IN THE 

BEACHHEAD CONTINUED TO PRESS FORWARD, AMERICAN FORCES 

SWUNG UP FROM THE SOUTH TOWARD ARGENTAN. THREATENED WITH 

ENCIRCLEMENT, POUNDED INCESSANTLY BY WAVES OF AIRCRAFT, THE 

ENEMY STROVE DESPERATELY TO ESCAPE TO THE EAST BUT BY 21 

AUGUST HIS TROOPS IN THE FALAISE POCKET HAD BEEN ANNHILATED AS 

A FIGHTING FORCE.

AS THE ALLIED FORCES STEADILY GREW IN STRENGTH THEIR SWEEP 

ACROSS FRANCE GAINED MOMENTUM. BY 25 AUGUST THEY HAD 
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CROSSED THE SEINE, HAD LIBERATED PARIS, AND WERE IN FULL PURSUIT 

TOWARD THE GERMAN BORDER.

ALREADY THE UNITED STATES AND ALLIED NAVIES HAD 

TRANSPORTED OR ESCORTED TO NORMANDY MORE THAN 3,000,000 TONS 

OF SUPPLIES AND 2,000,000 TROOPS TOGETHER WITH THEIR ARTILLERY, 

TANKS, AND VEHICLES.

Beneath each of these inscriptions is a set of three key maps, “The War Against 

Germany” on the west and “The War Against Japan” on the east.

On the south wall is the map, “Military Operations in Western Europe” showing 

the progress of the military operations in northern France and northwest Europe from the 

landing in Normandy to the end of the war, together with a flanking descriptive text in 

English and French, of which the following is the English version at the east end:

IN THE WAKE OF THE SWIFT ALLIED ADVANCE ACROSS NORTHERN 

FRANCE STRONG ENEMY GARRISONS STUBBORNLY CLUNG TO MANY 

LARGE SEAPORTS. THUS DENIED ADEQUATE HARBORS THE ALLIES HAD 

NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO UNLOAD THEIR SUPPLIES AND 

REINFORCEMENTS OVER THE NORMANDY BEACHES OR THROUGH THE 

SINGLE CRIPPLED PORT OF CHERBOURG. THE EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE 

OF THE TREMENDOUS TASKS PLACED UPON SUPPLY PERSONNEL OF THE 

ARMY AND NAVY WAS A VITAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE SWEEPING 

VICTORY WHICH LIBERATED FRANCE.

ALTHOUGH HANDICAPPED BY RAPIDLY LENGTHENING SUPPLY 

LINES. THE ALLIED FORCES, AIDED BY AIR LIFT, MAINTAINED THEIR 

VIGOROUS FURSUIT OF THE FLEEING ENEMY. BY MID-SEPTEMBER 1944 

THE BRITISH AND CANADIANS HAD CLEARED THE CHANNEL COAST, 

EXCEPT FOR A FEW ISOLATED PORTS. HAD CAPTURED THE CITY OF 

ANTWERP, AND HAD ENTERED HOLLAND. THE U.S. FIRST ARMY OF THE 

12TH ARMY GROUP HAD SWEPT THROUGH FRANCE, BELGIUM, AND 

LUXEMBOURG, AND WAS STANDING ON THE THRESHOLD OF GERMANY, 

WHILE THE U.S. THIRD ARMY IN A SWIFT ADVANCED HAD REACHED THE 

MOSELLE ON THE RIGHT FLANK, THE 6TH ARMY GROUP (U.S. SEVENTH AND 

FRENCH FIRST ARMIES), ROLLING NORTHWARD FROM THE BEACHES OF 

SOUTHERN FRANCE, HAD JOINED FORCES WITH THE U.S. THIRD ARMY AT 

SOMBERNON. IN BRITTANY THE RECENTLY ACTIVATED U.S. NINTH ARMY, 

ASSISTED BY AIR AND NAVAL BOMBARDMENT, WAS BESIEGING BREST 

WHOSE GARRISON SURRENDERED ON 18 SEPTEMBER.

THE NEXT THREE MONTHS SAW BITTER FIGHTING IN THE EFFORT TO 

BREAK THROUGH THE GERMAN FRONTIER DEFENSES. ON 11 SEPTEMBER 

THE ALLIED ARMIES SET FOOT ON GERMAN SOIL ON 17 SEPTEMBER THE 

ALLIED FIRST AIRBORNE ARMY DROPPED IN THE EINDHOVEN-ARNHEM 

AREA IN A GALLANT BUT UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO OUTFLANK THE 

FORTIFIED SIEGFRIED LINE. BY DOGGED EFFORT THE BRITISH SECOND 

ARMY, THE CANADIAN FIRST ARMY, AND THE NEWLY ARRIVED U.S. 

NINTH ARMY REACHED THE MEUSE AND ROER RIVERS. THE U.S. FIRST 
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ARMY FOUGHT ITS WAY THROUGH THE SIEGFRIED LINE TO REACH 

AACHEN AND THE HURTGEN FOREST. THE FORTRESS OF METZ FELL AS 

THE U.S. THIRD ARMY PUSHED TO THE SAAR. FARTHER SOUTH THE 6TH

ARMY GROUP CAPTURED STRASBOURG AND MULHOUSE.

ON 16 DECEMBER THE ENEMY MADE HIS LAST DESPERATE EFFORT 

TO STAVE OFF DISASTER. PREPARED IN GREATEST SECRECY AND 

LAUNCHED UNDER COVER OF FOG AND RAIN, HIS ATTACK IN THE 

ARDENNES WAS INITIALLY SUCCESSFUL. PROMPT DECISIVE MEASURES 

AND THE SUPERB FIGHTING QUALITIES OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND 

AIRMEN TURNED THE GERMAN ADVANCE INTO RETREAT. THE 

CONCURRENT GERMAN OFFENSIVE BETWEEN SAARBRUCKEN AND 

COLMAR MET THE SAME FATE.

DURING FEBRUARY AND EARLY MARCH THE WEST BANK OF THE 

RHINE WAS CLEARED IN A SERIES OF BRILLIANTLY SUCCESSFUL 

TACTICAL OPERATIONS. ON 7 MARCH AMERICAN FORCES SEIZED A 

BRIDGE AT REMAGEN. A SURPRISE CROSSING WAS EFFECTED AT 

OPPENHEIM ON 22 MARCH IN THE NEXT TWO DAYS ALLIED TROOPS 

ASSISTED BY NAVAL LANDING CRAFT STAGED ASSAULT CROSSINGS 

FARTHER DOWNSTREAM AND THEN SURGED FORWARD TO ISOLATE THE 

ENTIRE RUHR VALLEY REGION AND ITS DEFENDING FORCES BY A DOUBLE 

ENVELOPMENT. WITH AIR AND GROUND FORCES OPERATING AS A TEAM 

THE ALLIED FORCES SWEPT ACROSS GERMANY TO MEET THE ADVANCING 

TROOPS OF THE U.S.S.R. AT THE ELBE, ENTER CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND 

AUSTRIA, AND FORCE THE COMPLETE SURRENDER OF ALL GERMAN 

FORCES CONFRONTING THEM ON 8 MAY, 337 DAYS AFTER THE INITIAL 

LANDINGS IN NORMANDY.

The map also bears this significant reminder of the part played by the Strategic Air 

forces:

FROM 1942 TO 1945 THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES AND THE 

ROYAL AIR FORCE INCESSANTLY ATTACKED DEEP INTO ENEMY 

TERRITORY TO DISLOCATE AND DESTROY HIS MILITARY AND INDUSTRIAL 

SYSTEMS.

CHAPEL

At the east end of the museum, separated from it by a low granite divider and wrought 

iron gates, is the chancel. The face of the granite divider bears this inscription:

O LORD SUPPORT US ALL THE DAY LONG

UNTIL THE SHADOWS LENGTHEN

AND OUR WORK IS DONE

THEN IN THY MERCY

GRANT US A SAFE LODGING

AND PEACE AT THE LAST.
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The altar in the chancel is of French Harteville Perle limestone from the Juras. 

High above it is a large stained glass window in the shape of a sexfoil. Centered in the 

window is the seal of the United States. Each of the six circular stained glass areas on the 

perimeter of the sexfoil contains three stars. Above the window is engraved the 

inscription from Exodus XVI, 7:

IN THE MORNING YE SHALL SEE

THE GLORY OF THE LORD.

On the wall below the window and above the altar is a blue and gold damask 

hanging. Centered on the altar is a Latin cross flanked by two candlesticks.

TABLETS OF THE MISSING

Along the gently curving walls emanating from the memorial terrace are inscribed the 

name, rank, organization, and State of 498 of our Missing:

United States Army and Army Air Forces 449

United States Navy 48

United States Coast Guard 1
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These men have given their lives in the service of their Country but their remains 

have not been recovered or if recovered not identified. they came from the District of 

Columbia, Canada, and every State of the Union except Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and 

New Hampshire.

On the walls below the flagstaffs is this inscription together with the French 

translation:

HERE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF

AMERICANS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES

IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY AND

WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES

1941-1945.

These inscription panels are of Beaumont stone from southwestern France.

GRAVES AREA

There are 4,410 American military personnel buried in the cemetery. Their 4,408 

headstones are set in 16 fan shaped plots, curving from the central mall. These Dead, 

who gave their lives in our Country’s service, came from every State in the Union and the 

District of Columbia.
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Ninety-five of the headstones mark graves of “unknowns;” two of these graves 

contain the remains of two Unknowns that could not be separated. Here also, in twenty 

instances, two brothers rest side by side.

At the far (east) end of the mall is a rectangular stone cenotaph of LaPyrie granite 

designed by Lee Lawrie and executed by the French sculptor, Augustine Beggi. Carved 

upon it are a torch and laurel wreath in bas-relief and the words:

PROPATRIA

1941-1945.

PLANTINGS

The cemetery is surrounded by a Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha) hedge with an 

interior hedge of Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) enclosing the grave plots. The space of 

varying width between the two hedges is planted with shade trees, both evergreen and 

deciduous, including Giant Sequlia (Sequoia gigantea), Whiute Fir (Abies concolor), 

Norway Apruce (Picea abies), Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Holly Oak (Quercus ilex), 

Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Purple Beech (Fagus sylvatica purpurea), European 

Chestnut (Castanea sativa), European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), European Oak 

(Quercus robur) and European Elm (Ulmus procera). In the broad grass walks dividing 

the grave plots are flowering trees which bloom from late spring far into the summer. 

these include Crabapple (Malus floribunda), Double Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha

flora plena), Pagoda Tree (Sophora japonica), Golden rain Tree (Koelreuteria 

paniculata), and Yellow Wood tree (Cladrastis lutea). The central mall of the cemetery 

and the perimeter of the grave plots are lined with rows of European Chestnut (Castanea 

sativa). A number of rose beds and blooming shrubs such as rhododendron are grown in 

various locations and provide a colorful aspect.