The 173rd Mobile Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) Paratroopers, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Soldiers, West Point Military Academy cadets and volunteers place American and French flags at headstones in the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France, June 5, 2026. The joint effort, held in honor of the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings, brings together military personnel and community members to honor the ultimate sacrifice of the Allied forces. The Normandy American Cemetery is the final resting place for 9,388 U.S. service members, most of whom lost their lives during the D-Day landings and subsequent operations of World War II. (U.S. Army video by Maj. Brian Andries)
Shot List:
00:00 - 00:04 | Wide Shot | U.S. Army soldiers, cadets and volunteers work in rows of white marble cross headstones, bending down to plant small flags at the gravesites under a canopy of green trees.
00:04 - 00:09 | Close-Up | Sgt. 1st Class Gillespie, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), wears a black organizes a bundle of small wooden-stemmed American and French flags in his hands.
00:09 - 00:13 | Close-Up (Low-Angle) | A close, clean view of a white cross headstone with miniature French and American national flags cleanly planted side-by-side in the grass.
00:13 - 00:15 | Medium Shot | A 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Soldier walks along the edge of the cemetery carrying a bundle of flags.
00:15 - 00:32 | Wide Shot | A long, symmetrical view down a pathway of immaculate rows of headstones. A high flagpole with the American flag is centered in the background as volunteers and a soldier move down the rows planting flags.
00:32 - 00:41 | Wide Shot | Sgt. Moore, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), carries a bundle of flags and walks down a row of headstones, carefully inserting individual American flags into pre-made ground holes.
00:41 - 00:51 | Wide Shot | Sgt. 1st Class Alexander, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), uses a specialized T-shaped metal alignment tool to press holes into the turf.
00:51 - 00:54 | Medium Shot | Sgt. 1st Class Alexander, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), uses a specialized T-shaped metal alignment tool to press holes into the turf.
00:54 - 00:59 | Medium Shot | A 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldier walks down a designated row of white crosses, holding a T-handle flag hole puncture tool in his hand.
00:59 - 01:10 | Medium Low-Angle | A 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Soldier leans over to carefully position and push mini flags down into the lawn next to a white cross headstone.
01:10 - 01:18 | Medium Shot (Low-Angle) | Sgt. 1st Class Massey, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), crouches down low to the grass to capture a photo of a unknown soldier cross using his smartphone.
01:18 - 01:24 | Wide Shot | Sgt. 1st Class Massey, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) pays respects to an unknown soldier gravesite.
01:24 - 01:30 | Wide Shot | Several 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Soldiers work in unison in a far line of the cemetery, wit h a massive pine tree dominating the center-left composition of the frame.
01:30 - 01:41 | Wide Shot (Focus Pull / Framing) | A unique shot framed through the soft-focus silhouette of white headstones in the foreground, showing a team of soldiers methodically measuring and punching flag holes along a distant row.
01:41 - 01:48 | Wide Shot | Sgt. 1st Class Massey, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), carrying a box of ceremonial flags while walking through an endless sea of white crosses layout.
01:48 - 01:52 | Wide Shot | An expansive view looking past the trunk of a large evergreen tree as a soldier bend down to place final flags into the manicured green lawn.
01:52 - 01:59 | Wide Shot | A Westpoint cadet in a patrol cap walks down an isolated section of the cemetery bordered by pink rose bushes, leaning over to plant a miniature flag at a gravesite.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.15.2026 10:40 |
| Category: | B-Roll |
| Video ID: | 1010997 |
| VIRIN: | 260602-A-MG761-8760 |
| Filename: | DOD_111775012 |
| Length: | 00:01:59 |
| Location: | FR |
| Downloads: | 1 |
| High-Res. Downloads: | 1 |
This work, B-roll: Normandy American Cemetery Flag Placement during D-Day 82, by MAJ Brian Andries, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
