Luxembourg American Cemetery, where Patton lies among his men

Plenty of British visitors come to Luxembourg with the Battle of the Bulge already in their heads, from films, books or a grandfather’s stories. This is where that history becomes very concrete. White marble headstones curve down from a stone terrace towards the woods, and among them lies the most famous American general of the European campaign. The site is run by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and sits in Hamm, on the eastern edge of Luxembourg City.

Why Patton’s army is buried here

Luxembourg City was the headquarters of Patton’s US Third Army in the winter of 1944-45. The 609th Quartermaster Company opened the cemetery on 29 December 1944, while the German Ardennes offensive was still under way, and it was dedicated as a memorial in 1960. Most of those buried here died in that battle or in the advance to the Rhine that followed. I cover the wider story in the Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg and Luxembourg in the Second World War; this page is about the visit itself.

Walking round the site

Through the gates, the visitor centre is on your left, with leaflets and staff who escort relatives to graves. Straight ahead stands the chapel, ringed by a stone terrace. Go inside for the bronze doors, the mosaic ceiling and the stained glass showing the insignia of the units.

Below the terrace, two pylons face each other across an Eisenhower quotation. One carries a map of the Battle of the Bulge, the other the wider campaign in western Europe. On their reverse are 371 names of the missing, and 23 bronze rosettes mark men identified since the names were carved who now rest in known graves. For me those rosettes are the most moving detail on the whole site.

From there the burial area slopes away in nine sections, laid out in a soft fan with four fountains, big trees and beds of roses and rhododendrons, with 17 acres of lawn inside 33.5 acres of woodland.

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Finding Patton’s grave

Patton was buried here on 24 December 1945, as he had requested, alongside his men, and his grave is what most people ask for first. The ABMC posted a notice on 23 July 2026 about maintenance work around the gravesite, so if that’s your main reason for coming, I’d ring +352 43 17 27 before you set off.

Band of Brothers fans should know that, according to the Luxembourg government portal, five men of E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne, are buried here, together with two Medal of Honor recipients, Day G. Turner and William D. McGee. Staff at the visitor centre can point you to them.

Hours, cost and guided tours

It costs nothing and there’s no booking. The cemetery is open every day from 9am to 5pm, bank holidays included, with last entry at 4.45pm, and closes only on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Free guided tours run when staff are free; the ABMC asks you to get in touch first. Families still come to visit their own, so this is a place for quiet rather than a quick photo stop.

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Getting there and planning the day

The cemetery is in the district of Hamm, roughly five kilometres from the centre and close to Luxembourg airport, which makes it an easy first or last stop on a trip that starts or ends with a flight from Britain. Walking out from the centre along the Alzette valley, you pass Pulvermühl first, the city’s smallest district. Without a car, bus 29 runs from the central station to the Cents-Hamm stop, and Luxembourg free public transport covers buses, trams and second-class trains. Drivers leave the E25/E44 at exit 7 and follow the signs for the «cimetières militaires».

The plural on those signs matters. A short drive away, in the commune of Sandweiler, is the Sandweiler German war cemetery, with 10,913 graves of German soldiers from the same winter. I’d do both in a single morning. Seeing how each side remembers its dead, a few minutes apart, stays with you.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in American Cemetery and pick one that fits your day.

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