The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial – located in Colleville-Sur-Mer – France, was built on the grounds of a temporary cemetery established shortly after the landings in Normandy took place.
The Normandy American Cemetery holds the remains of 9,387 Americans who gave their lives during the Normandy campaign and other operations in Europe during WWII.
Also, airman shot down over France are buried there. The graveyard contains the remains of three American women who served in France.
A standard procedure during the war was for the next of kin to decide if the fallen soldier would be repatriated for a permanent burial in the US, or interred at the closest overseas cemetery.
Thus, many of the men who died during the liberation of France were returned home. The ones who stayed now lie in the 172 acres (70 ha) of this memorial site. Among the many men buried here are the two sons of Theodore Roosevelt, Quentin and Theodore Jr.
Quentin Roosevelt was an aviator during the First World War who died in France, and his remains were transferred to the Normandy Cemetery. Theodore Jr. died on the beaches of Normandy and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
Its location overlooks the Omaha Beach and the English Channel, serving as a monument to the battle that took place on the beaches nearby. The Memorial is included in the cemetery complex and contains names of 1,557 soldiers whose bodies were lost during the war engraved on walls of a semicircular garden in the center of which is a 22-foot bronze statue entitled The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves.
Embedded in the lawn of the cemetery lies a time capsule that is to be opened on the centenary of the Normandy landings, on June 6th, 2044.
This marvelous drone footage from the World War II Foundation shows us the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in its entirety.
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