Normandy is ABMC's most visited cemetery, receiving approximately one million visitors each year. Learn more about the architecture, exhibits, inscriptions, and the project team. The center is sited in a wooded area of the cemetery approximately 100 meters east of the Garden of the Missing. The $30 million visitor center was dedicated by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) on Jduring the commemoration of the 63rd Anniversary of D-Day. In 2007, the Normandy Visitor Center opened. Facing west at the memorial, one sees in the foreground the reflecting pool beyond is the burial area with a circular chapel and, at the far end, granite statues representing the United States and France. The memorial consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing large maps and narratives of the military operations at the center is the bronze statue, “Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves.” An orientation table overlooking the beach depicts the landings in Normandy.

Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. On the Walls of the Missing, in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial, are inscribed 1,557 names. The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. First Army on Jas the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.

Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. For questions regarding the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2024, please contact us at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St.

People per hour cover image