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Concept
Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
Summary
The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial (Cimetière américain de Colleville-sur-Mer) is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, that honors American troops who died in Europe during World War II. It is located on the site of the former temporary battlefield cemetery of Saint Laurent, covers 172.5 acres and contains 9,388 burials.
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. The cemetery also includes two flag poles where, at different times, people gather to watch the American flags being lowered and folded.
The cemetery, which was dedicated in 1956, is the most visited cemetery of those maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), with one million visitors a year. In 2007, the ABMC opened a visitor center at the cemetery, relating the global significance and meaning of Operation Overlord.
On June 6, 1944, the 607th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company of the U.S. First Army established the temporary cemetery, the first American cemetery on French soil in World War II. After the war, the present-day cemetery was established a short distance to the east of the original site.
It was dedicated on July 19, 1956, in the presence of American Admiral Kinkaid of the U.S. Navy, representing President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and French General Ganeval, representing President René Coty.
Like all other overseas American cemeteries in France for World War I and II, France has granted the United States a special, perpetual concession to the land occupied by the cemetery, free of any charge or any tax to honor the forces. It does not benefit from extraterritoriality, and is thus still French soil. This cemetery is managed by the American Battle Monuments Commission, a small independent agency of the U.S. federal government, under Congressional acts that provide yearly financial support for maintaining them, with most military and civil personnel employed abroad.
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