The Ardennes American Cemetery, with more than 5,000 fallen in the World War II

@ElentirENG ES 3·06·2024 · 23:34 0

The Battle of the Bulge, between late 1944 and early 1945, was the last major German offensive of World War II.

The Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery that honors 3,595 allied soldiers
The German Military Cemetery of Recogne, where 6,807 fallen rest in Belgium

Although the battle ended with an Allied victory, the US forces had 81,000 casualties and the British more than 1,400. In 1960 the American Cemetery in the Ardennes was inaugurated in the town of Neupré, in Wallonia. , Belgium. This cemetery contains the remains of more than 5,000 American soldiers. 65% of them were United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aviators. The tombs are placed forming a Greek cross.

The cemetery has a main monument adorned with a large American eagle. Inside there is a chapel, presided over by the image of an angel and which has on its walls three large murals showing the maps of the main operations of the European Theater of that war. The names of 463 missing persons are inscribed in the cemetery, whose remains could never be buried. There are also anonymous graves of soldiers who could not be identified.

In the cemetery there is also a large bronze statue representing American youth, the work of the American sculptor of German origin Carl Paul Jennewein (1890-1978). Among the soldiers and airmen buried in this cemetery are three posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest US military decoration: Sergeant Charles F. Carey Jr., Major John L. Jerstad and Captain Darrell R. Lindsey.

There is also an atypical grave in the European Theater: that of a member of the Marine Corps, the Sergeant Frederick J. Brunner, who was part of the Marine detachment of the US Embassy in London, where he was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor of the CIA. He died on March 20, 1945 when the plane from which he was to be parachuted crashed in Schwege, Germany. You can see here the official video of this cemetery on the channel American Battle Monuments Commission:

This Wednesday, The History Underground published an interesting video visiting this cemetery< /strong> and showing some of their graves, as well as the history of their fallen: