Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial, Military cemetery at Mont Valérien, France

Suresnes American Cemetery is a burial ground on the slopes of Mont Valérien containing 1,541 graves of soldiers from the First World War and 24 unknown servicemen from the Second World War. The grounds feature a central chapel, loggias with white marble figures, and memorial plaques inscribed with the names of fallen troops from both conflicts.

The municipality of Suresnes donated land in 1919, and President Woodrow Wilson formally inaugurated the grounds on May 30 of that year. The cemetery was established as a resting place for American soldiers who died in France during both World Wars.

The bronze tablets on the chapel walls list 974 American servicemen missing from World War I, most lost in the 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive; rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. The cemetery is the only American military cemetery in Europe that holds dead from both world wars, and its land was granted in perpetuity by the town of Suresnes in the name of the French people.

The grounds are open daily year-round and are best visited in the morning when sunlight illuminates the chapel and marble figures. Comfortable shoes are recommended since the cemetery sits on slopes with several pathways connecting different sections.

Suresnes is the only American military cemetery in Europe that combines both World Wars: 24 unknown soldiers from the Second World War lie beside the First World War graves. The site was chosen in 1917 for its proximity to Paris hospitals, not to any battlefield, and about 60% of those buried here died of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic.