Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial

The Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial is a 42-acre (17 ha) World War I cemetery in Belleau, Northern France. It is at the foot of the hill where the Battle of Belleau Wood was fought, with many American fatalities. The cemetery also contains burials from the Battle of Château-Thierry, later that summer.

The site is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, and its dedication ceremony was held on Memorial Day, May 30, 1937. Among those buried there are Medal of Honor recipient Weedon Osborne.

The Chateau-Thierry American Monument and the Belleau Wood US Marines monument are nearby.

Cemetery

The cemetery itself is laid out in the form of the capital letter T, with the Memorial Chapel crowning the T-shape on a small hill to south, the cross-bars making up the two burial plots and the pathway leading into the cemetery making up the stem of the letter-shape.

Each of the two burial plots (Plot A and Plot B) contain 13 rows of headstones, which consist of either Stars of David or Latin crosses. There are 2,288 burials in the cemetery, 251 of which contain unknown remains.

Memorial Chapel

The Memorial Chapel is built over the site of front-line battle trenches dug in defense of Belleau Wood. When entering the Memorial Chapel, one can see on the wall to the right a small hole that was made by a passing German anti-tank gun. Looking above the inside entrance door, one will see the following inscription:

THE NAMES RECORDED ON THESE WALLS ARE THOSE OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN THIS REGION AND WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES.

The names of 1,060 soldiers missing in action are inscribed on the Chapel's walls.

Notable burials

• Weedon E. Osborne (1892–1918), recipient of the Medal of Honor^[1]

Gallery

• 

  U.S. Marines and French soldiers during the 93rd anniversary service of the Battle for Belleau Wood.

See also

• World War I memorials

References

• Sledge, Michael (2005). Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 204. ISBN 9780231509374. OCLC 60527603. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Belleau wood.

• Aisne-Marne.wmv – Windows Media Video
• Cemetery booklet
• American Battle Monuments Commission site
• Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial at Find a Grave

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, American Battle Monuments Commission".