The Normandy American Cemetery and memorial that honors soldiers killed in World War II is located in Colleville-sur-Mer (lower Normandy).
Summary
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- 1 Location
- 2 Features
- 3 The Garden of the Missing
- 4El Memorial
- 5 A sign of friendship between France and the United States
- 6Fuente
Location
The American Cemetery looms over Omaha Beach , the scene of a bloodbath for Allied troops on the morning of June 6, 1944. The cemetery, located in the town of Colleville-sur-Mer, covers an area of 70 hectares and is 1 kilometer long. With more than nine thousand bodies buried, this cemetery is located in a ravine that overlooks Omaha beach, one of the places where the famous Normandy landings took place on D-day 1944. Under the name of operation “Overlord” the Allied troops were to recapture the territory occupied by Nazi Germany.
Features
Both the monument and the cemetery, an impressive grassy esplanade with white marble crosses aligned in perfect geometry, were designed by Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson, Markley Stevenson on some 70 hectares of land ceded by France to the United States for make the military necropolis, it was inaugurated in 1956. Here the remains of approximately half of the 20,000 soldiers who had been buried in a temporary cemetery in Saint Mere Eglise a few days after the landing were brought, the rest were repatriated.
The graves are facing west, toward the United States, and all belong to soldiers killed in World War II except one, which is of a soldier killed during theWorld War I , it is about Quentin Roosevelt , son of President Roosevelt, who was transferred here to rest along with his brother Theodore Roosevelt , the other son of the president who died in 1944 . There is a gold star on his tombstone, as he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Some of the graves have a Star of David instead of a cross because they belong to American Jews. Across is the memorial, a colonnaded garden with a central bronze sculpture called “Spirit of Young Americans.” On the walls of the enclosure are the engraved names of the 1557soldiers killed in the conflict without being able to be identified or located. You can also see maps and documents about the Normandy landing operations and a small chapel. What is called a “time capsule” is also buried in this cemetery, there the news that appeared about the landing on June 6, 1944 and that the same journalists placed, is stored there, on top it has a granite layer that says: “Open on June 6, 2044.”
The Garden of the Disappeared
The landing and the battle of Normandy caused heavy casualties among the allied troops. Unfortunately, not all the bodies could be found and the list of missing persons amounts to 1,557 names. The Garden of the Disappeared is formed by a circular wall on which the names of the disappeared are engraved. These inscriptions record the names of people whose remains could not be recovered – as was the case of the 800 men of the 66th Infantry Division who lost their lives during a torpedo attack – or whose bodies could not be identified.
the memorial
Continuing along the central promenade, you come to the Memorial, a semi-circular commemorative monument with a 7-meter-high statue in the center. This statue allegorically represents the soul of American youth emerging from the waves. Maps of military operations are embossed on the walls of the Memorial and include:
- The Normandy landings
- Air operations over Normandy from March to August 1944
- On June 6, 1944 with the amphibious landings and assaults
- Military operations in Western Europe from June 6, 1944 to May 8, 1945
A sign of friendship between France and the United States
The cemetery complex is managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission, an independent agency that manages American cemeteries and monuments related to the two world wars. The place where the cemetery is located is a territory ceded in perpetuity by France to the United States. Two statues in the cemetery symbolize the bond between these countries. The first represents the figure of Columbia with the eagle of the United States and the second shows Marianne, the allegorical image of France, holding a French rooster. Each statue holds an olive branch to symbolize peace between peoples and the friendship that unites these two nations.