| Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial | |
| Body: | American Battle Monuments Commission |
| Use Dates: | 1941–1945 |
| Established: | 1943 |
| Designer: | Perry, Shaw, Hepburn and Dean (architects) Olmsted Brothers (landscaping) |
| Coordinates: | 52.2161°N 0.0538°W |
| Nearest Town: | Cambridge, England |
| Total: | 3,812 |
| Unknowns: | 24 |
| By War: | World War II 3,812 |
| Source: | American Battle Monuments Commission |
Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II American military war grave cemetery, lying between the villages of Coton and Madingley, 7km (04miles) north-west of Cambridge, England. The cemetery, dedicated in 1956, contains 3,811 American war dead and covers 30.5acres. It is one of 26 overseas military cemeteries administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).[1]
The memorial is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.
In 1943, the University of Cambridge gave 30.5 acres of land on the north slope of Madingley Hill to the American military forces for use as a temporary cemetery during World War II. After the war, the American Battle Monuments Commission chose Cambridge as the site for America's permanent World War II cemetery and war memorial in the United Kingdom. America's war dead from three temporary cemeteries in the British Isles were consolidated in the Cambridge cemetery during an extensive cemetery construction project, and simultaneously the United States government repatriated about 58% of the existing war dead at the request of their surviving family members. Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial was dedicated on 16 July 1956.
The cemetery contains 3,809 headstones, with the remains of 3,812 servicemen, including airmen who died over Europe and sailors from North Atlantic convoys. The inscribed Wall of the Missing includes four representative statues of servicemen, sculpted by American artist Wheeler Williams. The wall records the names of 5,127 missing servicemen, most of whom died in the Battle of the Atlantic and in the strategic air bombardment of northwest Europe.
Besides personnel of the United States armed forces there are also buried 18 members of the British Commonwealth armed services, who were American citizens serving chiefly in the Royal Air Force and Air Transport Auxiliary, besides an officer of the Royal Canadian Air Force and another of the British Royal Armoured Corps, whose graves are registered and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.[2]
In May 2014, a new visitor centre opened, containing exhibits about some of the people buried or commemorated at the cemetery, and the wider World War II campaigns in which they were involved.
The memorial building is 85feet long, 30feet wide, and 28feet high; it is made of Portland stone; the doors of teak are embellished with relief models of World War II military equipment. The memorial comprises a large museum room and a small chapel. A great map on the wall shows schematically the air sorties flown from East Anglia, together with convoys across the North Atlantic and other actions in the war. The wall and roof have a mosaic of angels and ghostly aircraft. The south wall is inset with stained glass windows displaying the seals of the States of the Union arranged in ceremonial order.
The chapel was designed and built between 1952 and 1954 by the Boston-based architects Perry, Shaw, Hepburn, Kehoe and Dean. Hughes and Bicknell of Cambridge were the executant architects.
The architects of the site plan were Perry, Shaw, Hepburn and Dean; the landscape architecture was arranged by the Olmsted Brothers company.