Somme American Cemetery
This World War I cemetery in France contains the graves of nearly 1,850 war dead, and more than 330 names on the Walls of Missing.
The Somme American Cemetery sits on a gentle slope in rolling countryside, about a hundred miles northeast of Paris.
This beautiful region was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting in World War I.
More than 1,800 Americans are buried here.
The cemetery is located in the area where the U.S. 107th Infantry Regiment of the 27th division suffered nearly a thousand casualties in one day of furious fighting.
Two brothers, James and Harmon Vedder, lie side by side.
Their mother, Effie, was an early leader of the Gold Star Mothers’ Association.
Nurse Helen Fairchild died during a gas attack when she selflessly gave her gas mask to a wounded soldier.
Bronze World War I helmets sit atop bronze wreaths, ringing the base of the cemetery flagpole.
Massive bronze doors open to the chapel.
A crystal window in the shape of a cross illuminates the four walls – carved with the names of over 300 of the fallen whose bodies were not found or not identified.
The chapel inscription honors those who died for their country.
They are eternally remembered here, among the now-peaceful fields of northern France.