The very first American WW2 cemetery on European soil was established just out of Colleville-sur-Mer on the 8th of June 1944, two days after the D-Day landings, and after the war, the present, permanent site, was established, just a little east from the original site.  The cemetery is on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, and holds the remains of 9,387 American Service Personnel, all facing west towards the US and home.  

Though not established until 1944, the bodies of air men shot down over France as early as 1942 have been joined with their comrades in arms in this soil.  Another 1,557 American names, belonging to people lost or in the conflict are on the wall of a monument in a semicircular garden to the east of the memorial, and beyond that there's a tablets and tables, diagrams and narratives of the operation that took place here.  There are three Medal of Honour recipients buried here, including Theodore Roosevelt Jr.  

At the entrance to the cemetery, buried under a pink marble slab is a time capsule containing the news reports from June 6th 1944.  Its inscription reads “In memory of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the forces under his command. This sealed capsule containing news reports of the June 6, 1944 Normandy landings is placed here by the newsmen who were here, June 6, 1969”.

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names on the wall in normandy

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Question posted 9th November 2009 by steve hamilton.

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