View source for Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial

{{Short description|ABMC war grave cemetery in England}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox military memorial
|name         = Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial
|body         = [[American Battle Monuments Commission]]
|image        = Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial.jpg
|image_size   = 300px
|caption      = Cambridge American Cemetery headstones, with the memorial building behind.
|use_dates    = 1941–1945
|established  = 1943
|designer     = [[Perry Dean Rogers Architects|Perry, Shaw, Hepburn and Dean]] <small>(architects)</small><br />[[Olmsted Brothers]] <small>(landscaping)</small>
|coordinates  = {{coord|52.2161|N|0.0538|E|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
|nearest_town = [[Cambridge]], England
|total        = 3,812
|unknowns     = 24
|by_country   =
|by_war       = [[World War II]] 3,812
|source       = [https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/cambridge-american-cemetery American Battle Monuments Commission]
}}

'''Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial''' is a [[World War II]] American military [[war grave]] cemetery, lying between the villages of [[Coton, Cambridgeshire|Coton]] and [[Madingley]], {{convert|7|km|mi|abbr=on}} north-west of [[Cambridge]], England.  The cemetery, dedicated in 1956, contains 3,811 American war dead and covers {{convert|30.5|acre|ha|abbr=on}}.  It is one of 26 overseas military cemeteries administered by the [[American Battle Monuments Commission]] (ABMC).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/cambridge-american-cemetery |title=Cambridge American Cemetery |author=American Battle Monuments Commission |website=abmc.gov |access-date=22 February 2019 }}</ref>

The memorial is [[Listed building#England and Wales|listed Grade II*]] on the [[National Heritage List for England]].<ref name=NHLE>{{NHLE |num=1376611 |desc=Memorial chapel and attached walls, steps and pool surrounds at American Military Cemetery, St Neots Road |access-date=17 May 2021}}</ref>

==The cemetery==
In 1943, the [[University of Cambridge]]<ref name="ABMCpdf2" /><ref name="ABMC2" /> gave 30.5 acres of land on the north slope of Madingley Hill to the American military forces for use as a temporary cemetery during [[World War II]].  After the war, the American Battle Monuments Commission chose Cambridge as the site for America's permanent World War II cemetery and war memorial in the United Kingdom.  America's war dead from three temporary cemeteries in the British Isles were consolidated in the Cambridge cemetery during an extensive cemetery construction project, and simultaneously the United States government repatriated about 58% of the existing war dead at the request of their surviving family members.  Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial was dedicated on 16 July 1956.<ref name="ABMCpdf2" />

The cemetery contains 3,809 headstones, with the remains of 3,812 servicemen,<ref name="note"/> including airmen who died over Europe and sailors from North Atlantic convoys. The inscribed Wall of the Missing includes four representative statues of servicemen, sculpted by American artist [[Wheeler Williams]]. The wall records the names of 5,127 [[Missing in action#World War II|missing servicemen]], most of whom died in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] and in the [[Strategic bombing during World War II#US bombing in Europe|strategic air bombardment]] of northwest Europe.<ref name="ABMC"/>

[[File:Cambridge American Cemetery 2012-11-25 07.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.4|Reflecting pool leading to the chapel, with the memorial wall on the right.]]

Besides personnel of the United States armed forces there are also buried 18 members of the [[British Commonwealth]] armed services, who were American citizens serving chiefly in the [[Royal Air Force]] and [[Air Transport Auxiliary]], besides an officer of the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] and another of the British [[Royal Armoured Corps]], whose graves are registered and maintained by the [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]].<ref name=cwgc>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2062610/CAMBRIDGE%20AMERICAN%20CEMETERY] CWGC Cemetery Report.</ref>

In May 2014, a new visitor centre opened, containing exhibits about some of the people buried or commemorated at the cemetery, and the wider World War II campaigns in which they were involved.<ref name="ABMC2"/>

==Notable burials and memorials==
[[File:Flag draped coffins of American soldiers at a military funeral ceremony at the Madingley, England, (date unknown, but probably after 1943) - NARA - 6003746 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Flag-draped coffins of American soldiers at a military funeral ceremony at the cemetery]]
* [[John Martin Howard]] (1917–1942), US Navy officer – (memorial – buried at sea)
* [[John Joseph Seerley Jr.]] (1897–1943), pilot in both World War One and World War Two
* [[Vincent F. Harrington]] (1903–1943), US Representative and US Army Air Forces officer
* [[Glenn Miller]] (1904–1944), jazz bandleader and trombonist (memorial – lost at sea)
* [[Damon Jesse Gause]] (1915–1944), fighter pilot
* [[Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.]] (1915–1944), eldest son of [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]] and [[Rose Fitzgerald]] (memorial – lost at sea)
* [[Leon Vance]] (1916–1944), US Army Air Forces pilot and [[Medal of Honor]] recipient (memorial – lost at sea)
* Three of the crew of [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]] [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17 Flying Fortress]] ''[["Mi Amigo" memorial|Mi Amigo]]'', which crashed in Sheffield, killing all 10 crew (seven later repatriated to the US)
* American volunteer derrickman Herman Douthit. While working Rig No. 148, Douthit was killed when he fell from a drilling mast. He was buried with full military honors and remains the only civilian burial at the cemetery

==The memorial (including chapel)==
The memorial building is {{convert|85|ft|m|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|30|ft|m|abbr=on}} wide, and {{convert|28|ft|m|abbr=on}} high; it is made of [[Portland stone]]; the doors of teak are embellished with relief models of World War II military equipment. The memorial comprises a large museum room and a small chapel. A great map on the wall shows schematically the air sorties flown from [[East Anglia]], together with convoys across the North Atlantic and other actions in the war. The wall and roof have a mosaic of angels and ghostly aircraft.<ref name="ABMC pdf"/>   The south wall is inset with [[stained glass]] windows displaying the [[List of U.S. state, district, and territorial insignia|seals]] of the [[U. S. state|States of the Union]] arranged in [[List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union|ceremonial order]].

The chapel was designed and built between 1952 and 1954 by the Boston-based architects Perry, Shaw, Hepburn, Kehoe and Dean. [[Hughes and Bicknell]] of Cambridge were the executant architects.<ref name=NHLE/>

==Design==
The architects of the site plan were [[Perry Dean Rogers Architects|Perry, Shaw, Hepburn and Dean]]; the landscape architecture was arranged by the [[Olmsted Brothers]] company.<ref name="ABMC pdf"/>

==Chapel gallery==
<gallery>
File:Madingley_American_Cemetery_chapel.jpg|Chapel interior
File:Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial - the Great Map.JPG|Showing the air sorties from East Anglia
File:Cambridge American Cemetery 2012-11-25 04.jpg|Design on the ceiling of the chapel
File:Cambridge American Cemetery 2012-11-25 01.jpg|Altar in the chapel
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="note">The numbers differ because one headstone is over a grave with two servicemen, who could not be separately identified, and another is over a grave with three servicemen, for the same reason.</ref>
<ref name="ABMC">{{cite web|url=http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ca.php|title=American Battle Monuments Commission, Cambridge Cemetery|access-date=12 August 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527095835/http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ca.php|archive-date=27 May 2010}}</ref>
<ref name="ABMC pdf">{{cite web|url=http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ca_pict.pdf|title=Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial|publisher=American Battle Monuments Commission|access-date=29 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119123019/http://abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ca_pict.pdf#|archive-date=19 November 2010|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
<ref name="ABMCpdf2">{{cite web|url=http://www.abmc.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Cambridge_Booklet.pdf|title=Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial|publisher=American Battle Monuments Commission|access-date=15 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805063305/http://abmc.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Cambridge_Booklet.pdf#|archive-date=5 August 2014|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
<ref name="ABMC2">{{cite web|url=http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/cambridge-american-cemetery|title=American Battle Monuments Commission, Cambridge Cemetery|access-date=15 September 2014}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Sledge |first=Michael |title=Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, and Honor Our Military Fallen |year=2005 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0231509374 |pages=207, 210|oclc= 60527603 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial}}
* {{Official|https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/cambridge-american-cemetery}}
* {{Find a Grave cemetery}}
* [http://www.ukairfields.org.uk/madingley.html UK Airfields : Cambridge American Memorial, Madingley]

{{American Battle Monuments Commission}}
{{Cemeteries in England}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1943 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1956 establishments in England]]
[[Category:American Battle Monuments Commission]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in South Cambridgeshire District]]
[[Category:Cemeteries in Cambridgeshire]]
[[Category:Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Cambridgeshire]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials in Cambridgeshire]]
[[Category:United Kingdom–United States military relations]]
[[Category:World War II cemeteries in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:World War II memorials in England]]
[[Category:Cemeteries established in the 1940s]]