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Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial

Coordinates: 49°7′19″N 6°43′3″E / 49.12194°N 6.71750°E / 49.12194; 6.71750
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Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial
American Battle Monuments Commission
Lorraine American Military Cemetery, Memorial Day 2010, ceremonial wreaths
Used for those deceased 1944–1945
EstablishedSeptember 1944; 80 years ago (1944-09)
(Completed 1960; 64 years ago (1960))
Location49°7′19″N 6°43′3″E / 49.12194°N 6.71750°E / 49.12194; 6.71750
near 
Designed byMurphy & Locraft, Washington, D.C. (Monument)
Allyn R. Jennings of Oley, Pennsylvania (Landscaping)
Total burials10,481
Commemorated444
Burials by nation
United States
Burials by war
Statistics source: ABMC website

Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial is a Second World War American military war grave cemetery, located just outside Saint-Avold, Moselle, France. The cemetery, containing 10,481 American soldiers KIA (the second largest number of American burials in Europe, after the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery of World War I dead, with 14,246), covers 113.5 acres (45.9 ha), was dedicated in 1960. It is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission.[1]

History

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During and shortly after the war over 16,000 American casualties were interred across the Saint Avold region in France. Those interred at the Lorraine American Cemetery died mostly in the autumn of 1944 during the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine as the Americans sought to expel the Germans from fortress city of Metz and advance on the Siegfried Line during the latter stages of World War II. They were mainly part of the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies.

In the late 1940s many bodies from the Saint Avold region were repatriated to the US or concentrated at Lorraine.

Layout

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The cemetery's headstones are arranged in nine plots forming an elliptical design ending with an overlook feature. A memorial has ceramic operations maps with narratives and service flags. Either side of the memorial are Tablets of the Missing commemorating 444 soldiers missing in action (rosettes mark those since recovered and identified).

Notable burials

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Anecdote: Sheltered from view, hidden by trees in a place a little apart, is a small vegetable garden created in 1962 by Bouaroua Aissa, gardener of the cemetery. More than 60 years later, this garden still exists and is maintained by another gardener who perpetuates Aissa's work.

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References

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  1. ^ American Battle Monuments Commission. "Lorraine American Cemetery". abmc.gov. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  2. ^ Santschi, Darrell R. (23 February 2014). "Riverside men to get top honor: Jesus S. Duran and Salvador J. Lara will be awarded the Medal of Honor". The Press-Enterprise.
  3. ^ "The Last American Killed in Action in Europe during World War II". abmc.gov. American Battle Monuments Commission. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
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