Mardasson Memorial (Bastogne)

 Second World War 1939-1945, war memorial

Inaugurated on 16 July 1950, the memorial was designed by the architect Georges Dedoyard in the form of a star, representing the homage of the Belgian people to the 76,890 American soldiers killed, wounded or missing in action during the liberation of their towns and villages in the Battle of the Ardennes. At the centre of the Memorial, a stone bears the inscription in Latin "The Belgian people remember their American Liberators". It reminds us that on 4 July 1946, earth was taken from this spot in the presence of the US Ambassador and placed in an urn in a sealed casket. This was presented to US President Harry Truman by the Belgian authorities.

On the interior walls of the Memorial is inscribed the story of the Battle of the Ardennes and on the exterior columns the American units that participated in the battle are named alongside their unit insignia.

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