1

Flanders Field American Cemetery 

and Memorial

The American Battle Monuments Commission
2

Chapel Interior
3

Flanders 

Field 

American 

Cemetery

and

Memorial

LOCATION

Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial is located on the southeastern edge of 

the industrial commune of Waregem, Belgium, about 1.5 miles/2.5 kms from the center 

of town, on the road to Oudenaarde (Audenarde).1

Waregem may be reached by train from Brussels via Gent (Gand) in approximately 

one hour, from Paris, Gare du Nord in about five hours via Rysel (Lille) and Kortrijk 

(Courtrai), and five and one-half hours via Brussels and Gent. Taxi service is available 

from the train station in Waregem. Road distances to Waregem from various cities are: 

Brussels – 55 miles/88 kms, Mons – 50 miles/80 kms, Gent – 21 miles/34 kms, Brugge 

(Bruges) – 29 miles/47 kms, Kortrijk (Courtrai) – 10 miles/16 kms, Oudenaarde 

(Audenarde) – 8 miles/13 kms, Ieper (Ypres) – 28 miles/45 kms, Rysel (Lille) – 29 

miles/47 kms, and Paris – 175 miles/280 kms.

Adequate hotel accommodation may be found in Waregem and in most of the 

surrounding cities and towns.

1. Parenthetical references show French spelling. 

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 memorial sites.
4

Entrance Gate

HISTORY

The Flanders Field American Cemetery is situated on a battlefield where the U.S. 91st

Division suffered many casualties in securing the wooded area called “Spitaals 

Bosschen” a few hundreds yards to its east.

Before advancing into Belgium, the U.S. 91st and U.S. 37th Divisions had been 

engaged in heavy fighting in the Meuse-Argonne region. both divisions received orders 

in October 1918 to join the French Army in Belgium and assist in the operations 

launched there on 28 September 1918 by the Group of Armies of Flanders under the 

command of Albert I, King of Belgium.

The two divisions join the Ypres-Lys offensive on 30 October: the U.S. 37th along 

the railroad at Olsene, and the U.S. 91st just south of Waregem. A French division 

separated them in the lines when the general attack eastward toward the Escaut River 

(also known as the Schelde River) began at 5:30 a.m. on 31 October 1918.

The U.S. 91st Division quickly drove forward despite intense artillery and machine 

gun fire and captured the “Spitaals Bosschen” a short distance in front of its line of 

departure. The division was then delayed by severe enfilade fire from its right, as the 

French Division on that flank had been unable to make a corresponding advance. 

Meanwhile, under heavy enemy fire the U.S. 37th Division advanced about 2 1⁄2 miles to 

the western outskirts of Cruyshautem (Kruishoutem) where it dug in for the night. The 

following day, it being evident that the Germans were retreating, both divisions advanced 
5

rapidly to the Escaut River. The U.S. 91st occupied part of Audenarde on 2 November 

and the remainder of it the next day. Early on 2 November under heavy fire, the U.S. 37th

Division forced a crossing of the Escaut southeast of Heurne. On 4 November, a German 

counterattack against the bridegehead was repulsed. Both divisions were relieved during 

the night of 4 November to prepare for another general offensive and returned to the front 

lines on 10 November. The following day, with little opposition, both divisions were 

able to advance. The Armistice became effective at 11:00 a.m. on that date (11 

November 1918).

SITE

Smallest of the permanent American military cemeteries on the European continent, the 

Flanders Field American Cemetery occupies 6 acres. It was dedicated on 8 August 1937, 

and is the only American World War I cemetery in Belgium. The use of the land on 

which it rests has been granted by the Belgian Government free of charge or taxation in 

perpetuity, as an expression of its gratitude to the United States.

On 30 May 1927, Charles A. Lindberg flew over the cemetery in the Spirit of St. 

Louis to salute his fallen countrymen and drop poppies on the Memorial Day ceremonies 

being held below. He did this just 9 days after he completed his historic solo transAtlantic flight.
6

For many Americans, the cemetery has special significance because of John 

McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Field. The poem, however, was not written about the 

fighting which occurred there. Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D., a Canadian physician, wrote 

it while serving at a medical station in Ypres. On 8 December 1915, the poem was 

published anonymously in Punch magazine. Colonel McCrae died of pneumonia on 28 

January 1918, nine months prior to large-scale fighting in the Flanders area. In 1919, his 

verses were collected and published under the title In Flanders Field and Other Poems.

IN FLANDERS FIELD

In Flanders fields, the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly,

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

in Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; Be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

in Flanders fields.

It was due to the poem “In Flanders Field” that Miss Moina Michael originated the 

Flanders Memorial Poppy which has raised millions of dollars for veterans and their 

families. Miss Michael became known to millions of World War I veterans as the 

“Poppy Lady” and on 9 November 1918 she wrote the poem, We Shall Keep the Faith in 

answer to the In Flanders Field poem.

WE SHALL KEEP THE FAITH

Oh! You who sleep in “Flanders Fields,”

Sleep sweet – to rise anew!

We caught the Torch you threw

And, holding high we keep the Faith.

With all who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led:

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

But lends a lustre to the red
7

Of the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy red

We wear in honor of our dead.

Fear not that ye have died for naught;

We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught

In Flanders Fields.

Garden with Decorative Urn

ARCHITECTS

Dr. Paul P. Cret of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the architect of the cemetery and the 

memorial. The landscape architect was J. Greber of Paris, France.

GENERAL LAYOUT

From the wrought-iron entrance gates on the Waregem/Oudenaarde road, a short graveled 

lane bordered by linden trees on a carpet of grass leads past the Visitors’ Building on the 

left and the flagpole terrace on the right to the memorial chapel and graves area beyond. 
8

The American flag flies daily from the 50-foot flagpole on the terrace near the entrance 

gate. The pole’s cast bronze base is ornamented with Acanthus leaves, butterflies, 

seashells, oak leaves and acorns with a circle of poppies at the point where the staff is 

inserted in the base. The flagpole was designed by Egerton Swartwout, New York City, 

New York and cast by Susse Freres, Paris, France. Other architectural ornaments in the 

cemetery were created by L. Bottiau of Paris, France.

Steps lead down from the end of the graveled lane directly to the corner of a 

square-shaped sunken garden in the center of which is a nondenominational chapel where 

visitors may pause for meditation and quiet reflection. Paralleling each side of the 

sunken garden is one of the cemetery’s four rectangular grave plots. Flagstone paths lead 

from the chapel to steps at the three other corners of the sunken garden beyond which 

small secluded recesses enclosed with trees are located, each containing a decorative urn

on a pedestal and stone benches on which to rest. The insignia of the four American 

divisions that fought in Belgium (27th, 30th, 37th and 91st) are shown on the urns in 

sculptured form.

MEMORIAL CHAPEL

At the center of the cemetery is the small memorial chapel of white Pouillenay stone. 

Above its bronze entrance door is engraved:

GREET THEM EVER WITH

GRATEFUL HEARTS

to remind the visitor that those buried there died for their freedom.

On three of the outer walls, the dedicatory inscription appears in French, Flemish 

and English.

THIS CHAPEL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

IN MEMORY OF HER SOLDIERS

WHO FOUGHT AND DIED IN BELGIUM

DURING THE WORLD WAR.

THESE GRAVES ARE THE PERMANENT

AND VISIBLE SYMBOL OF THE HEROIC DEVOTION

WITH WHICH THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES

TO THE COMMON CAUSE OF HUMANITY.

Beneath the three versions for the inscription, sculptured bas-relief figures symbolizing 

Grief, Remembrance and History respectively appear.
9

CHAPEL INTERIOR

Inside the chapel, one’s attention is drawn to the altar of Grand Antique (black and white) 

marble. On the front of the altar is inscribed:

I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE.

I WILL REDEEM THEM FROM DEATH (Hosea, XIII:14).

Above it, carved on a rose-tinted marble panel, is a Crusader’s sword outline in gold. On 

either side of the altar stands a bronze candelabrum and flagstaffs supporting flags of the 

United States, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Italy. On the sidewalls of the chapel, 

panels of rose St. George marble enframed in bronze molding carry the names of 43 

American soldiers who lost their lives in Belgium and sleep in unknown graves. Above 

the names is the Great Seal of the United States and the inscription:

IN MEMORY OF THOSE AMERICAN SOLDIERS

WHO FOUGHT IN THIS REGION AND

WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES.
10

The beauty of the interior is enhanced by the mosaic ceiling, which depicts a 

lighted oil lamp under the stars of Heaven with doves of peace flying toward the light 

and, over the door, a large ornamental window through which comes a subdued golden 

light. The furniture of the chapel is of carved oak, stained black with veining in white to 

harmonize with the black and white marble altar.

Mosaic Ceiling in Chapel
11

Tablets of the Missing in Chapel
12

Memorial Chapel Surrounded by Graves

GRAVES AREA

The graves area consists of four rectangular plots. Each plot contains 92 graves marked 

with white marble headstones set in stately rows on a carpet of green grass. Stars of 

David mark the graves of those of Jewish faith and Latin Crosses mark all others. Each 

grave plot is enframed by an English yew hedge and dense massifs of colorful trees and 

shrubs. Twenty-one of the 368 graves in the cemetery is of Unknowns.
13

VISITORS’ ROOM

Near the cemetery entrance a comfortably furnished room is provided where visitors may 

pause to refresh themselves or obtain information from the cemetery staff. A register is 

maintained there, and all visitors are encouraged to sign it before leaving the cemetery. 

Burial locations and sites of memorialization in all of the overseas American military 

cemeteries of both World War I and World War II, plus other information of interest 

concerning the overseas cemeteries or local history, may be obtained from the 

Superintendent or the cemetery staff.

Visitors’ Building
14

Visitors’ Room

PLANTINGS

Behind the linden trees bordering the lane, a currant hedge sets off dense massifs of trees 

and colorful shrubs of rhododendron, lilac, azalea, birch, ash, oak, elm, holly, maple, 

osmanthus, hydrangea, magnolia, spirea and Japanese prune.
15

Unknown Soldier if World War I
16

Audenarde Monument

In 1936, the American Battle Monuments Commission erected a small monument 

in Oudenaarde (Audenarde), Belgium, to the 40,000 American troops who participated in 

operations in that area during World War I. The monument of yellow Cruchaud stone is 

located in a small park at Tacambaro Place in the center of the city. It was designed by 

Harry Sternfeld of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On the front of the monument above a sculptured shield of the United States is 

engraved the inscription:

37TH DIVISION – 91ST DIVISION – 53RD FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE.

Below the shield and flanked by two sculptured American eagles is the inscription:

ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO COMMEMORATE THE SERVICES OF AMERICAN TROOPS

WHO FOUGHT IN THIS VICINITY, OCT 30 – NOV 11, 1918.

A French version of the inscription is repeated on the right side of the monument and a 

Flemish version on the left.
17

Kemmel Monument

In 1929, the American Battle Monuments Commission erected a small monument 

commemorating the achievements of the 27th and 30th Divisions which fought in the 

Ypress-Lys offensive with the British Army from 18 August to 4 September 1918. The 

monument of clear Rocheret stone is located near the hamlet of Vierstraat on the road to 

Kemmelberg (Mont Kemmel) about 4 miles/6.5 km south of Ieper (Ypres). It was 

designed by George Howe of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Engraved on the front of the monument is the inscription:

27TH DIVISION – 30TH DIVISION

ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO COMMEMORATE THE SERVICES OF AMERICAN TROOPS

WHO FOUGHT IN THIS VICINITY

AUGUST 18-SEPTEMBER 4, 1918.

The inscription is flanked on either side by a sculptured American bayonet. Below the 

inscription is a sculptured American helmet resting upon a wreath. A French version of 

the inscription is engraved on the left side of the monument and a Flemish version on the 

right. The insignia of the 27th and 30th Divisions are engraved on the back side of the 

monument with their respective numerical designations beneath them.