Suresnes American Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 48.871812, 2.217361
Location: Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine
Record count: 2,538

Ownership: American Battle Monuments Commission

Directions: 123 Boulevard Washington, 92150 Suresnes, France. Suresnes American Cemetery is in the city of Suresnes, five miles west of the center of Paris.

A panorama view of Paris can be seen from the site, which is located high on the slopes of Mont Valérien.

Background: Suresnes American Cemetery covers 7 1/2 acres and sits on a hill named Mont Valérien. It had been known as Mont Calvaire in earlier times and was the site of a hermitage which was itself the goal of many pilgrimages. The hermits maintained gardens and vineyards, as well as a guest house. Thomas Jefferson often visited the guest house while he was Ambassador to France from 1784-1789.

In 1811, Emperor Napoleon I confiscated Mont Valérien with the intention of building a home for the orphans of the Legion of Honor. During a subsequent visit to the site he changed his mind and decided to build a fort. Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 stopped the work and Mont Valérien was built and is presently in use by the French Signal Corps.

During WWII, German troops occupied the fort where they executed over 4,500 political prisoners and members of the Resistance Movement. The French people have erected an impressive monument along the south wall of the fort to commemorate this sacrifice. Thus, the hill in Suresnes has become a symbol to the French of democracy's struggle in the cause of freedom. Mont Valérien is a site of pilgrimage for both the French and American peoples.

The American military cemetery at Suresnes was established in 1917 by the Graves Registration Service of the Army Quartermaster Corps. A majority of the WWI dead buried there died of wounds or sickness in hospitals located in Paris or at other places in the Services of Supply. Many were victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919.

At the end of WWII, it was decided that this particular cemetery should serve to commemorate the dead of both World Wars, and additional grave plot was created as an eternal resting place for the unidentified remains of 24 WWII unknowns. Commemorative loggias were also added to the original chapel.

The WWII section was dedicated in 1952 with an impressive ceremony presided over by General George C. Marshall, then Chairman of the Commission, and attended by distinguished representatives of the American and French governments.

Burial Records

• ABMC Burial Records, by Interment.net, November 30, 2019, (2,538 records)

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