epinal american cemetery

Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial

The Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial lies a few miles south-east of Epinal, a commune in northeastern France and the capital of the Vosges department. It composes roughly 48 acres above the Moselle River near the Vosges Mountains. According to the American Battle Monuments Commission It contains the graves of 5,254 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the campaigns to cross northeastern France to the Rhine River and beyond into Germany.

The cemetery was established in October 1944 by the 46th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company of the U.S. Seventh Army as it drove northward from southern France through the Rhone Valley into Germany. The cemetery became the repository for the fatalities in the bitter fighting through the Saverne Gap, and in defense of Allied positions in the Vosges region, during the winter of 1944-1945. Today, it is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) which was created by the U.S. Congress in 1923. The ABMC maintains 26 permanent American military cemeteries and 30 federal memorials, monuments and markers around the world.