Then there was the visit he and his wife made to an American military cemetery in Italy a few years ago.

It was located between the second fort and what is now known as the American Cemetery.

American cemeteries created since are distinctive for their park-like setting.

Walk on the path of history on the sandy beach before reaching the American cemetery.

"We were on the front line for five weeks," one Frenchman said as he visited the American cemetery last weekend.

American military cemeteries came from the duty of commanders on the frontier and in battle to care for their wounded soldiers.

By contrast, the American cemetery proclaims the terrible sacrifice of war, but also its nobility.

Only some of the soldiers who died overseas are buried in the overseas American military cemeteries.

The graves of missionaries and their families dominate the oldest part of the American cemetery.

It is the only American "cemetery of national memory" founded before the Civil War.