MADINGLEY, England — More than 200 airmen, soldiers, sailors and Marines stood in tight formations Thursday at Cambridge American Cemetery, their lines nearly as precise as the rows of grave markers arrayed behind them on the freshly cut grass.

Members of the Joint Analysis Center at RAF Molesworth come annually to this resting place for more than 3,800 of America’s dead from World War II to honor those fallen and the 5,127 whose names appear on the wall of the missing.

“I’ve never failed to be impressed with this magnificent setting,” said Air Force Col. Dick Ayres, the JAC commander, who gave the keynote speech in the brief ceremony held under a bright midafternoon sun.

The JAC analyzes intelligence for the U.S. European Command, focusing on 91 countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. It was created at RAF Molesworth in 1991 and began this annual ceremony soon after.

Ayres spoke of the ultimate sacrifice given by each person represented by a grave marker or a name chiseled on the wall of Portland stone. And he connected their efforts to the ongoing battle for the same ideals.

“We see members of our own unit called on to go into harm’s way,” he said.

Later, Ayres said in an interview that 87 of the JAC’s analysts have been deployed to U.S. Central Command, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan. All have returned safely to RAF Molesworth.

Air Force Master Sgt. Michael Brown said the ceremony offers JAC members a chance to honor their forebears. The cemetery holds the bodies of 59 airmen who were assigned to RAF Molesworth during WWII with the 303rd Bomb Group, known as Hell’s Angels. Another 86 names from the group are on the wall of the missing.

The group flew 364 bombing missions, the most of any B-17 group in 8th Air Force.

The highlight of the ceremony came when the military members, joined by representatives from France, Belgium and Turkey who serve at the JAC, performed an about face and saluted the crosses and Stars of David.

Afterward, Petty Officer 1st Class Shawn Downs, a Naval Reservist from Detroit, said, “This is very impressive. To realize what these people gave, it’s just amazing. I’m very glad I was able to take part in it.”

Petty Officer 3rd Class Travis Gramkow said, “It makes you realize what you’re here for. You don’t really understand it until you see it.”

Marine Sgt. Luke Revell was visiting the cemetery for the first time and thinks the ceremony, which nearly empties out the JAC, is worthwhile.

“It’s definitely a good thing, something we need to do,” he said. “Nobody wants to go to war and think they’ll be forgotten.”