After visiting Omaha Beach we went to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. The entrance is a simple walkway that leads into an oval walled area that is known as the walls of the missing.

The wall of the missing has a total os 1,557 American soldiers names inscribed on them.  If a soldier’s body has since been located they put a rosette beside their name on the wall.

We walked along the wall reading some of the many names inscribed on it.

We eventually walked to a semi-circular stairs with pillars that led us to an upper area. We went up the stairs to an area with a large statue.

From this area, we could see the main section of the cemetery.

We were immediately struck by the beauty, and size of the cemetery. The cemetery was a lot larger that we expected it covered 172.5 acres.

We walked through the cemetery looking at the crosses and reading the names of some of the soldiers that died on D-Day. The cemetery contains the graves of 9,387 soldiers, most of whom died during the D-Day landings.

It was a surreal and an emotional walk through the cemetery. Looking back towards the main entrance the view was awe-inspiring in a sad kind of way.

“Au revoir et passe une bonne journée”