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American Normandy Cemetery

Colleville-sur-Mer

Location and info

American Normandy Cemetery, Rte du Cimetiere Americain, 14710 Colleville-sur-Mer

Signposted from most major roads, the Cemetery is off the D514 coast road - turn at the Overlord Museum roundabout.

“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”

The unmistakable Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial stands on top of the bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach at Colleville-sur-Mer. Extending to over 170 acres, the site was opened in July 1956 and now receives over one million visitors each year.

A few key figures…
➡️ 9,387 burials and 1,557 names of those missing in action on the Wall of the Missing

➡️ 9,238 crosses and 149 Star of David headstones

➡️ There are graves of 304 unknown soldiers - marked with the inscription ’Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God’

➡️ Three Medal of Honor recipients lie here

➡️ 45 sets of brothers are buried here including two sons of President Roosevelt - Theodore Roosevelt Jr (died July 1944) and Quentin Roosevelt (killed in WW1 and reburied next to his brother in 1955)

➡️ Brothers Preston and Robert Niland, the inspiration for the movie Saving Private Ryan, are buried next to each other too

➡️ The 22 foot statue is called the Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves

➡️ The chapel ceiling contains 500,000 tiles in its mosaic

Gallery

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