Commemorating America’s 250th Anniversary at ABMC

To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, ABMC has partnered with America 250, the National Flag Foundation, and the National Sheriff’s Association, and have launched “Flag Sojourn 250”. This flag has traveled more than 40 thousand miles, flying at each of ABMC’s 26 cemeteries.

This year, the American Battle Monuments Commission will join the America250 initiative to inspire Americans to reflect on their past, strengthen their love of country, and renew their commitment to the ideals of democracy through programs that educate, engage, and unite the nation.

Since the Revolutionary War, America has had an ally in France, and since its creation in 1923, ABMC has had strong ties with the country. In fact, the agency’s first consulting architect was native Frenchman Dr. Paul Philippe Cret.

Since September 2025, the team at the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial Cemetery, located in the western suburbs of Paris, has been working closely with the French school Maurice Boyau School in Saint-Félix-de-Sorgues, Aveyron. The school is leading an ambitious and inspiring educational project titled “Lafayette Spirit: A Transatlantic Flight.”

With the famous words, “Lafayette, we are here,” the U.S. signaled a favor returned to its French allies in World War I. Lafayette remains a symbol of Franco-American friendship today.

Before France formerly entered the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette sailed to America to fight for freedom alongside George Washington’s colonial army. At the beginning of World War I, many Americans followed Lafayette’s example, volunteering to fight and drive ambulances in France before the U.S. officially entered the war in April 1917.