Video

Cambridge American Cemetery

This World War II cemetery in England contains the graves of more than 3,800 war dead, and nearly 5,130 names on the Walls of the Missing.

Video Transcript: 

The Cambridge American Cemetery sits on a quiet hillside outside the ancient university town of Cambridge.
This is the only military cemetery in the United Kingdom that commemorates American servicemembers and civilian volunteers who died in World War II.
Graves fan out across the lawn in sweeping curves.
It's a place of stillness and reflection.
A stately memorial building contains a map room and devotional chapel.
Leaded-glass windows display the seals of U.S. States and Territories.
The mosaic on the ceiling depicts the flight of ghostly aircraft, joined by mourning angels flying into eternity.
A visitor center tells the epic story of the historic alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States during World War II.
Some three million Americans came to the British Isles to prepare, train, and fight for freedom in Europe and beyond.
More than 3800 of those Americans are buried here.
Some died in the air in raids over Hitler's Europe, some at sea in the Battle of the Atlantic, and others fighting on the ground in lands far from home.
The Walls of the Missing list over 5,000 names.
Some are familiar – big-band leader Major Glenn Miller perished in a plane over the English Channel.
Navy bomber pilot Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. was killed in action in 1944.
His younger brother, John F. Kennedy, would become president.
But every name has its story.
Every name resonates with its message of sacrifice.
And free people everywhere will always remember the bravery and selflessness of these American men and women.
They crossed the ocean to fight for freedom and sacrificed their lives.