e from Bayeux Station to the
cemetery. To travel to the cemetery from Paris by automobile, it is suggested that one take the
Autoroute de l'Quest (A-13, toll highway) from Paris to Caen, then highway N-13 to Bayeux and
Formigny. At Formigny turn right onto D-517 towards St. Laurent-sur-Mer; then right onto D-
514 to Colleville-sur-Mer, where directional signs mark the access to the American Cemetery.
The road distances to the cemetery from some of the other cities in France are: Le
Havre, 94 miles (152 kilometers); Caen, 29 miles (46 kilometers); Rouen, 110 miles (177
kilometers); and Cherbourg, 50 miles (81 kilometers). Adequate hotel accommodations are
available in Caen and Bayeux as well as in surrounding villages.

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 relative s to grave and
memorial sites.

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HISTORY


Many months of planning and preparation preceded the 6 June 1944 D-Day landings in
Normandy. Beginning in March 1944, Allied air forces disrupted transportation between
the Seine and Loire Rivers and conducted strategic air bombardment deep into enemy
territory in an attempt to keep the German air force occupied and on the defensive and to
isolate the landing areas.
On 6 June 1944, during the early morning hours of darkness, three airborne divisions
(the British 6th and the U.S. 82nd and 101st) were dropped to the rear of the beach areas to
cover deployment of the seaborne assault forces. Simultaneously, Allied naval forces,
including the U.S. Coast Guard, swept the English Channel of mines and
preceded the assault vessels to the landing areas. At 0630 hours, under cover of intense
naval and air bombardment, six U.S., British and Canadian divisions began landing on Utah,
Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches in what was to be the greatest amphibious assault of
recorded history.
The U.S. 4th Division landed at Utah Beach and pushed rapidly inland to join the

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airborne division. The early success and extraordinarily light casualties on Utah Beach
contrasted sharply with the difficulties of the U.S. 1st and 29th Divisions on Omaha Beach
to the east, where the enemy was resisting with every device and weapon at its disposal. Its
terrain alone was a major obstacle. Instead of sloping gently from the high ground to the
rear, the beach area terminated in steep sandy bluffs. Troops had to cross an open area
varying in width from a few yards at each end to about 200 yards in the center, and then
attack up the steep bluffs to the plateau where the Normandy American Cemetery now
stands. Patches of tall marsh grass were the only concealment available. Fighting was bitter
and casualties heavy. Nevertheless, before D-Day was over, the U.S. 1st Division took the
high ground on which the cemetery stands.



Further to the east on Gold, Juno and Sword landing beaches, the British and
Canadian divisions forged steadily ahead. Within a week, under the cover of continuous
naval gunfire and air support, the individual beachheads were linked together. Temporary

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anchorages and artificial harbors were constructed off the beachhead area during this period
by sinking ships and anchoring prefabricated concrete caissons to the channel floor,
facilitating the unloading of troops and supplies.
Rapidly, the Allied armies increased in size and strength. On 26 June, Americans
freed Cherbourg; on 9 July, British and Canadians fought their way into Caen; and on 18
July Americans took St. Lo. Preceded by a paralyzing air bombardment on 25 July, the U.S.
First Army stormed out of the beachhead area. Coutances was liberated three days later
and, within a week, the recently activated U.S. Third Army cleared Avranches and was
advancing toward Paris on a broad front.



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THE SITE


The Normandy American Cemetery, 172.5 acres in extent, is one of fourteen permanent
American World War II military cemeteries constructed on foreign soil by the American
Battle Monuments Commission. Nearby, on D + 1 (7 June 1944), the first temporary
American World War II cemetery in France was established by the American Graves
Registration Service. After the war, when the temporary cemeteries were disestablished by
the Army, the remains of the American military Dead whose next-of-kin requested
permanent interment overseas were moved to one of the fourteen permanent cemetery sites
on foreign soil. Usually, it was the one which was closest to the temporary cemetery.
There the American Graves Registration Service interred them in the distinctive grave
patterns proposed by the cemetery's architect and approved by the
Commission. The design and construction of all facilities at the permanent sites were the
responsibility of the Commission; i.e., the memorial, chapel, visitors building,
superintendent's quarters, service facilities, paths and roads. The Commission was also
responsible for sculpture, landscaping and other improvements.

ARCHITECTS


Architects for the cemetery's memorial features were Harbeson, Hough, Livingston and
Larson of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The landscape architect was Markley Stevenson, also
of Philadelphia.





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The Normandy American Cemetery is generally rectangular in shape. Its main paths are laid
out in the form of a Latin cross.
An avenue bordered by hedgerows, about one-half mile in length, leads from highway
D-514 to the main entrance at the southeast corner of the cemetery. Inside the main gate
are the parking areas, the Visitors Building, and the Superintendents quarters. Beyond
them, filling most of the eastern end of the cemetery is a beautiful, semi-circular memorial
with a memorial garden and Tablets of the Missing to its rear. Facing west, the memorial
overlooks a large reflecting pool, two flagpoles, from which American flags fly daily, the
graves area and the chapel.
A wide, grassy mall extends westward from the reflecting pool bisecting the graves
area. The memorial chapel is located on the mall about one-third of the way from its
western end. A narrower north-south mall intersects the central mall at the chapel. Two
Italian granite (Baveno) figures representing the United States and France rise above the
graves area at the western end of the central mall. Encircling the cemetery proper is a
service road.
An overlook, on a small jut of land just north of the memorial affords an excellent
view of Omaha Beach directly below and the English Channel. Located at the overlook is an
orientation table showing the various beaches and forces involved in the Normandy
landings. A low railing forms a parapet to the front at the edge of the cliff. From here, the
whole action of the landings and the scaling of the escarpment may be visualized. From the
overlook, steps and a path descend to the beach. Along the path is a second

orientation table showing the artificial harbor or "Mulberry" in some detail. Prior to the
1944 landings, the enemy had installed artillery and machine-guns along the cliffs so that it
could fire lengthwise along the beaches. The cemetery is surrounded on the east, south and
west by heavy masses of plantings.

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THE MEMORIAL


The memorial structure consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia housing battle
maps at each end and a large bronze sculpture in the open area formed by its arc. The
loggias and colonnade are of Vaurion, a French limestone from the Cote d'Or region; the
plinths and steps are of Ploumanach granite from Brittany. The ceilings of the loggias are
of blue ceramic tile by Gentil et Bourdet of Paris. The floor of the open area within the arc
is surfaced with pebbles taken from the invasion beach below the cliff and imbedded in
mortar.
Centered in the open arc of the memorial facing toward the graves area is a 22-foot
bronze statue, "The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves," on a rectangular
pedestal of Ploumanach granite. The sculptor of this was Donald De Lue of Leonardo, New
Jersey. It was cast in Milan, Italy by the Battaglia Foundry. Encircling the pedestal of the
statue on the floor in bronze letters is the inscription:
MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE COMING OF THE LORD.

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Inserted in the floor directly, behind the statue are two small curved garden plots.
Additionally, four small rectangular plots edged with boxwood are inset in the floor, two on
each side of the statue. Adjacent to each rectangular plot on the side closest to the statue is
a stone bench.
Carved on the inner face of the colonnade's lintel is the inscription:
THIS EMBATTLED SHORE, PORTAL OF FREEDOM,
IS FOREVER HALLOWED BY THE IDEALS,
THE VALOR AND THE SACRIFICES
OF OUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN
On the interior walls of the south loggia are three maps engraved in the stone and
embellished with colored enamels. The largest map is on the south wall and is oriented with
south at the top. It is entitled "THE LANDINGS ON THE NORMANDY BEACHES AND
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BEACHHEAD" and portrays the landings of 6 June 1944,
the establishment of the firm beachhead, the liberation of Cherbourg and St. Lo, and the