Normandy France

In grateful appreciation of the many details provided about Normandy, this page is dedicated to the staff in France who create and sustain the beauty of the Normandy American Cemetery grounds. The staff consists of 24 French citizens, and 2 American citizens. In the truest form of humility, all 26 staff members declined a request for a group photograph, or even mention of their names, desiring instead to have the focus remain on those whose resting place they meticulously attend to. They are very proud of what they do, and serve in their various functions at the cemetery with a deep sense of care and respect.

In December of 2004, the staff at the American Cemetery in Normandy provided many photographs of the actual area in Normandy which is depicted in the Atlanta Memorial. Included in these photographs, are photographs which helped to correct errors in the 2004 Atlanta memorial. The cemetery caretakers also provided detailed drawings of Normandy Plot "A" and Plot "B", which are depicted in the Atlanta memorial.

The number icons on the above cropped ABMC 1956 photo of Normandy, show the position of photographs taken in December of 2004, and provided by the ABMC-ER caretakers at the American Cemetery in Normandy. Move the mouse over each number to view a thumbnail image of the photo, click on the number to display a 500 X 375 image here. As the thumbnail images display above, their orientation from the number icon, approximates the general direction that the photo was taken. When the mouse is moved over a number icon, a compass (relative to the 1956 photo) to the left displays a black arrow representative of the direction that the camera was facing when the photograph was taken. When the mouse is not over a number icon, the compass returns to a gold "North" arrow.

See the Downloads page for higher resolution versions of all of these images.