Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

About this place

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, that honors American troops who died in the Normandy landings and the Battle of Normandy that followed. It is located adjacent to the site of the former temporary battlefield cemetery of Saint Laurent, covers 172.5 acres and contains 9,389 gravesites. A memorial in the cemetery includes maps and details of the Normandy landings and military operations that followed. At the memorial's center is Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves, a bronze statue by Donald De Lue. During your visit, give the inscriptions and the arrangement of the site as much attention as its architecture. These details help explain who is remembered here and how later generations chose to preserve that memory.