Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery
This World War II cemetery in Belgium contains the graves of more than 7,900 war dead, and 450 names on the Walls of the Missing, most of whom lost their lives during the advance of the U.S. armed forces into Germany.
The Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery lies about 70 miles southeast of Brussels, Belgium.
On an expanse of 57 acres, row after row of headstones arc across the broad green lawn.
Nearly 8,000 American servicemembers rest here.
Most lost their lives as the U.S. armed forces advanced into Germany.
They fell in the Battle of the Bulge and other hard-fought battles that were crucial to liberation of Belgium and the ultimate victory over Nazi Germany.
Twenty-two Americans who lie here were prisoners, massacred by the German SS at Malmedy.
Two maps of military operations in northwestern Europe, carved in black granite, line the walls of the Museum and Visitors' Room in the memorial.
Twelve pairs of columns on the memorial plaza present the names of 450 Americans whose bodies were never found.
The chapel is simple but richly ornamented.
Above the graves, a bronze statue of an archangel offers a laurel branch to the heroic dead below and gestures to the skies above.