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The cemetery is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944, the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.
The cemetery is situated on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. It is just east of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer and northwest of Bayeux, about one hundred and seventy miles west of Paris.
The cemetery covers one hundred and seventy two acres. It contains the graves of 9,386 American military Dead, most of whom gave their lives during the landings and ensuing operations of World War II. On the walls of the semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial are inscribed the names of 1,557 American Missing who gave their lives in the service of their country, but whose remains were not located or identified.
The cemetery is briefly featured at the beginning of Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE (born on December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a Jewish American film director whose films range from science fiction to historical drama to horror. He is noted for the patriotism of his work and, in recent years, for his wi's 1998 film Saving Private RyanSaving Private Ryan is a 1998 film directed by Steven Spielberg dealing with the World War II Battle of Normandy. The film is particularly notable for the intensity of the scenes in its first twenty minutes or so, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault, as a much older Private James Ryan, accompanied by his family, makes his way to the grave of Capt. John Miller (played by Tom HanksThomas J. Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor famous for playing notable roles in many popular and critically acclaimed movies. He is well known for his acting ability, and is able to play characters that range from the vulnerable Forrest Gump) and segues into that movie's defining scene, the D-DayIn military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. By far the most well-known D-Day is June 6, 1944—the day on which the Battle of Normandy began—commencing the American and British landing at Omaha Beach.