World War II Two of the Niland brothers, Preston and Robert, whose story inspired Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan Layout The Cemetery is divided into ten plots. It forms a latin cross, with the Chapel in its middle, and the Memorial and Wall of the Missing at its base. It faces the United States, in the direction of a point between Eastport and Lubec, Maine. This is accidental, as the Cemetery was built parallel to the beach on the lands granted by the French. Memorial The Memorial consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing maps and narratives of the military operations. It is built in medium-hard limestone from upper Burgundy. Two of the maps, designed by Robert Foster, are 32 feet long and 20 feet high. At the center is a 22-foot bronze statue entitled The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves by Donald De Lue. Over the arches of the Memorial is engraved “THIS EMBATTLED SHORE, PORTAL OF FREEDOM, IS FOREVER HALLOWED BY THE IDEALS, THE VALOR AND THE SACRIFICES OF OUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN”. At the feet of the Memorial is engraved both in English and French “IN PROUD REMEMBRANCE OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF HER SONS AND IN HUMBLE TRIBUTE TO THEIR SACRIFICES THIS MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”. Wall of the Missing The semi-circular gardens bear the 1,557 engraved names of service members declared missing in action in Normandy. Most of them were lost at sea, including over 489 in the sinking of the SS Léopoldville. 19 of these names bear a bronze rosette next to their name, meaning that their body was recovered and identified after the cemetery's dedication. Above the walls is engraved, both in English and French, “★ COMRADES IN ARMS WHOSE RESTING PLACE IS KNOWN ONLY TO GOD ★ ★ HERE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF AMERICANS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY AND WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES ★ THIS IS THEIR MEMORIAL ♦ THE WHOLE EARTH THEIR SEPULCHER ★”. At its center is engraved “TO THESE WE OWE THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED SHALL LIVE”, an abbreviation of General Dwight D. Eisenhower's dedication of the Golden Book in St Paul's Cathedral, London. Chapel At the center of the cemetery lies a multi-confessional chapel. Its altar, in black and gold Pyrenean marble,