Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial is a Second World War American military war grave cemetery, located in

Hamm Hamm (, Latin: ''Hammona'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of 2016 its population was 179,397. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway. Hamm railwa ...

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Gr ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. The cemetery, containing 5,074 American war dead, covers and was dedicated in 1960. It is administered by the

American Battle Monuments Commission The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) is an independent agency of the United States government that administers, operates, and maintains permanent U.S. military cemeteries, memorials and monuments primarily outside the United States. ...

History

The cemetery was established on 29 December 1944 by the 609th Quartermaster Company of the

U.S. Third Army The United States Army Central, formerly the Third United States Army, commonly referred to as the Third Army and as ARCENT, is a military formation of the United States Army which saw service in World War I and World War II, in the 1991 Gulf Wa ...

while Allied Forces were containing the German

Ardennes offensive The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war i ...

in the winter of 1944/1945. General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

used the city of Luxembourg as headquarters.

Layout

The new headstones were cemented onto concrete beams that run for more than six miles under the lawn of the grave plots. The 5,076 headstones are set in nine plots of fine grass, lettered A to I. Separating the plots are two malls radiating from the memorial and two transverse paths. Two flagpoles overlook the graves area. Situated between the two flagpoles lies the grave of General

. Twenty-two sets of brothers rest side-by-side in adjacent graves. During the 1950s, the original wooden grave markers were replaced with headstones made of white Lasa marble. Not far from the cemetery entrance stands the white stone chapel, set on a wide circular platform surrounded by woods. It is embellished with sculpture in bronze and stone, a stained-glass window with the insignia of the five major U.S. commands that operated in the region, and a mosaic ceiling. Under a U.S.–Luxembourg treaty signed in 1951 the U.S. government was granted free use in perpetuity of the land covered by the cemetery.

Notable burials

* Private William D. McGee (1923–1945),

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

recipient *

(1885–1945), US general * Sergeant Day G. Turner (1921–1945),

recipient

Gallery

Image:Patton_grave.JPG, General Patton's grave File:Day Turner Grave.jpg, Grave of Day G. Turner,

recipient Image:American_Cemetery_Luxembourg_Rear.JPG, View from the rear of the cemetery

References

External links

American Battle Monuments Commission Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial

Website with photos of the Luxembourg American Cemetery and information on some of the soldiers buried there
* {{Authority control American Cemetery and Memorial American Cemetery and Memorial American Cemetery and Memorial World War II memorials American Battle Monuments Commission American Cemetery and Memorial World War II cemeteries