WW II American Cemetery in Normandy, France

Former Shoreline Mayor Ron Hansen at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France where 9,386 American servicemen are buried. Photo by Jan Hansen

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 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.

Jan and Ron Hansen (former Mayor of Shoreline, who died in 2015) visited the cemetery in Normandy as part of a tour of World War II sites in northern Europe and said it was a powerful experience.

From Jan: My father and Ron often took times of reflection and thanks. They understood the words of Abraham Lincoln’s address. 

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” --The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln