(NEXSTAR) – As the 80th anniversary of D-Day approaches, we are remembering and honoring those who died fighting for our freedom.
Many of them are buried in the Normandy American Cemetery, just yards away from where the invasion happened.
About 12,000 American service members are either buried or remembered at the cemetery. Every year, about 2 million people from around the world visit to learn about these people and pay their respects.
“This cemetery commemorates the sacrifice of an entire young generation, but also the sacrifice of all those families because they were all the son or the brother of someone. Many of them just got a child before they left home. Many of them just got married before they left home. There were husbands, parents, but they were all part of family,” said Anthony Foulquier of the Normandy American Cemetery where 9,388 people are buried in that hallowed ground.
Marble crosses mark most of the graves within the cemetery but in recent years, there’s been an effort to acknowledge the soldiers of Jewish heritage who hid their religion during and after the war.
The cemetery made a promise to change their grave markers to Stars of David, at the request of their families.
“We are still honoring this promise,” said Foulquier.
Now there are 152 Stars of David in Normandy American Cemetery.
There are 45 sets of brothers who are buried in the cemetery including 33 who are buried side by side, including two sons of President Theodore Roosevelt, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Junior and Lt. Quentin Roosevelt, who is the only World War I aviator buried in Normandy.
When family members visit the grave of their loved one, cemetery officials perform a sand ceremony as a way to honor that solider.
“We take some sand coming from Omaha beach and we put it to highlight the name of the service member,” said Foulquier.
Within this sacred place is also a memorial with a semicircular garden. More than 1500 names of the missing are inscribed on the wall.
“In this cemetery are buried more than 300 people, but we don’t know their names. their names are inscribed on the Wall of the Missing,” said Foulquier.
Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified in order to remember those who fought and died on the beaches of Normandy.
Those who work at the cemetery know it’s not easy for everybody to come to Normandy and pay their respects in person, so they encourage everybody at home to learn about veterans in their community and honor them.