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~ Home for the Heroes ~
The 42.5-acre Aisne-Marne Cemetery and Memorial in France, its headstones lying in a sweeping curve, sits at the foot of the hill where stands Belleau Wood. The cemetery contains the graves of 2,289 war dead, most of whom fought in the vicinity and in the Marne valley in the summer of 1918. The memorial chapel sits on a hillside, decorated with sculptured and stained-glass details of wartime personnel, equipment and insignia. Inscribed on its interior wall are 1,060 names of the missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. During World War II, the chapel was damaged slightly by an enemy shell.
Belleau Wood adjoins the cemetery and contains many vestiges of World War I. A monument at the flagpole commemorates the valor of the U.S. Marines who captured much of this ground in 1918.
The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. except December 25 and January 1. It is open on host country holidays. When the cemetery is open to the public, a staff member is on duty in the Visitor Building to answer questions and escort relatives to grave and memorial sites.
How to Get There
Aisne-Marne American Cemetery lies south of the village of Belleau (Aisne), France, 6½ miles northwest of Chateau-Thierry. It may be reached by automobile from Paris via toll autoroute A-4 by taking the Montreuil-aux-Lions exit (#19), then via N-3, following the cemetery signs to Lucy-le-Bocage and proceeding through Belleau Wood to the cemetery entrance. Driving from Reims via toll autoroute A-4, the cemetery may be reached by taking the Chateau-Thierry exit (#20), proceeding to the center of Chateau-Thierry and then following the cemetery signs. There is rail service from Paris (Gare de l'Est) to Chateau-Thierry; the journey takes about 1 hour.
