In the garden of the missing located behind the memorial is a semi-circular wall containing the names of 1 557 missing in the region. The little haven of verdure invites you to meditation and memory. The Normandy American Cemetery is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), an independent agency created in 1923 by the Congress of the United States of America and attached to the executive branch of the US Gouvernment. The Commission is responsible for commemorating the services and achievements of the United States Armed Forces through the execution of suitable memory shrines, for designing, constructing, operating and maintaining permanent US military cemeteries and memorials in foreign countries. No one enters the Colleville Cemetery by chance, it must be a voluntary process. The visitor prepares himself to penetrate with attention and contemplation a piece of United States in France.