About Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery

Overview

Within the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in France, which covers 130.5 acres, rests the largest number of our military dead in Europe, more than 14,200. Most of those buried here lost their lives during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of World War I.

The immense array of headstones rises in long regular rows upward beyond a wide central pool to the chapel that crowns the ridge. A beautiful bronze screen separates the chapel foyer from the interior, which is decorated with stained-glass windows portraying American unit insignia; behind the altar are flags of the principal Allied nations.

On either side of the chapel are memorial loggias. One panel of the west loggia contains a map of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Inscribed on the remaining panels of both loggias are Tablets of the Missing with almost 1,000 names, including those from the U.S. expedition to northern Russia in 1918-1919. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

A renovated, 1,600-square-foot visitor center reopened in November 2016. Through interpretive exhibits that incorporate personal stories, photographs, films, and interactive displays, visitors gain a better understanding of the critical importance of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive as it fits into the Great War.