Footsteps of WWII · Belgium & Luxembourg
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery
Cemetery · Opened 28 Sep 1944; dedicated 1960
The story
Troops of the US 1st Infantry Division liberated this area on 12 September 1944, and a temporary cemetery opened a few hundred metres to the north on 28 September. The permanent cemetery, dedicated in 1960, covers 57 acres on a ridge near Hombourg. It holds 7,992 American dead, 94 of them unknown, most killed in the Battle of the Bulge or the advance into Germany in 1944–45, together with airmen lost over the region. A colonnade lists 450 missing; bronze rosettes mark those since found and identified. In 1947 the first repatriation of American war dead to the United States began here.
What to look for
Headstones curve across a sloping lawn facing the memorial, with a road running through the site. The chapel and map room show carved granite maps of the American advance, the colonnade carries the names of the missing, and the Angel of Peace statue stands nearby.
Plan your visit
Free. American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries normally open daily 09:00–17:00, closed 25 December and 1 January; the ABMC website could not be checked, so confirm before you go. Staff at the visitor centre can help find a grave.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten · 15 km
- Fort Eben-Emael · 19 km
- December 44 Historical Museum, La Gleize · 32 km
- Museum Hürtgenwald 1944, Vossenack · 33 km
- Baugnez: Malmedy massacre memorial · 35 km
- St Vith · 50 km
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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