Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
The cemetery is open to the public daily, except on December 25 and January 1. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April 1 to September 30, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the year. Admission to the cemetery ends 15 minutes before closing time. It is open on host country holidays. When the cemetery is open, staff members are on duty in the visitor center to answer questions and escort relatives to grave and memorial sites.
Details taken from the
American Battle Monuments Commission web site.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,386 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the Walls of the Missing, in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial, are inscribed 1,557 names. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
A vintage poster was created by French artist DOZ for all ABMC cemeteries and four iconic monuments to mark ABMC’s centennial.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Looking west across the cemetery.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
The laying out of the original cemetery down by the beach after D-Day.
On June 8, 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. (Wiki).
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Only some of the soldiers who died overseas are buried in the overseas American military cemeteries. When it came time for a permanent burial, the next of kin eligible to make decisions were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S., or interred at the closest overseas cemetery. (Wiki).
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
BRIGADIER GENERAL THEODORE ROOSEVELT JR. U.S. Army. SEPTEMBER 13, 1887 - JULY 12, 1944.
Roosevelt landed on H hour 6th June 1944 to be the only general on D-Day to land by sea with the first wave of troops.
Throughout World War II, Roosevelt suffered from health problems. He had arthritis, mostly from old World War I injuries, and walked with a cane. He also had heart trouble. On 12 July 1944, one month after the landing at Utah Beach, he died of a heart attack in France. He was fifty-six years of age.
Theodore Roosevelt III.
In Normandy June 1944.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
An American Soldier in Normandy.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
The flag ceremony.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
The flag ceremony folding an American flag.
Normandy American Cemetery (Omaha Beach)
Was he a veteran?? we will never know.
© 2013 Richard Drew