A stained-glass window at the church of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, created by Paul Renaud and installed in 1969, depicts some of the first actions of D-Day. Photographed March 28, 2026, the Virgin Mary looks down on American paratroopers, who helped make Sainte-Mere-Eglise the first town liberated by Allied forces on June 6, 1944. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
In the coming days, ceremonies in the United States and abroad will mark Memorial Day, a day to honor American service members who died in war. Speeches will be delivered, bands will play the national anthem and parades will wind through towns and cities.
A quieter form of remembrance exists in European churches.
As Stars and Stripes reported Wednesday, more than 30 churches in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Luxembourg contain stained-glass windows honoring U.S. military efforts during the First and Second World Wars. Some are in well-known sites, like the church of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France. Others are in small, sometimes closed churches where the memorials are only occasionally seen.
About 53,000 U.S. troops were killed in combat in Europe during World War I, along with tens of thousands more who died of disease. Roughly 183,000 U.S. service members died in the European Theater during World War II.
Many of the stained-glass windows were installed in the years after the wars, while others have been added more recently, reflecting different moments of remembrance.
Seen together, they show how memory is shaped over time and raise a quieter question: how are these service members being remembered today?
A stained-glass window at St. Andrew’s and St. Patrick’s Church in Elveden, England, photographed April 14, 2026, shows an airman with the 3rd Air Division of the 8th U.S. Air Force kneeling beside an angel with outstretched arms. The window honors members of the division who were headquartered at nearby Elveden Hall during World War II, describing them as supporting “the cause of world freedom.” (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
The emblem of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division radiates in the hands of an angel in a stained-glass window at Notre Dame Church in Carentan, Normandy, France. The window honors the unit, which played a key role in the D-Day landings, and sits among others dating to the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries. Photographed March 28, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Father Henri Hamus performs Mass at Saint-Maurice Church in Eschweiler, Luxembourg, April 12, 2026, beneath a stained-glass window bearing the seal of the United States and the family crest of an American soldier who was killed in the village during World War II. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
“The Window of the Crusaders,” photographed April 14, 2026, at the 12th-century Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Little Easton, England, is dedicated to the U.S. 386th Bomb Group, nicknamed “the Crusaders,” which flew more than 260 missions from a nearby airfield against Nazi targets during World War II. Nearly 200 Crusaders were killed in action, with many others wounded or taken prisoner. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
An American service member from World War I is depicted in stained glass at a church in Belleau, France, near the site of the Battle of Belleau Wood. The church was rebuilt after the war with funds raised by veterans of the 26th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. Photographed May 15, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
At Sainte-Vierge-de-l’Assomption Church in Brieulles-sur-Meuse, France, where American forces fought during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in World War I, light shines through a stained-glass window depicting a fallen American soldier and a wounded French soldier beneath Jesus on the cross. Photographed Feb. 27, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
American soldiers with bayonets fixed are depicted in a stained-glass window in the Chapel of the Dead at the Notre-Dame collegiate church in Semur-en-Auxois, France. Photographed Feb. 16, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Cracks run through the word “reconnaissants,” French for “grateful,” on a memorial window for the 17th Airborne Division at the Church of Saint-Lambert in Houmont, Belgium, on Feb. 27, 2026. The unit suffered heavy casualties during the Battle of the Bulge in the surrounding Ardennes region. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
A stained-glass window at St. Andrew’s Church in Quidenham, England, dedicated to the 96th Bomber Group of the 8th Air Force, shows an airman looking up at Jesus. Photographed April 14, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
Cobwebs cover a statue of the Virgin Mary at Sainte-Vierge-de-l’Assomption Church in Brieulles-sur-Meuse, France, on Feb. 27, 2026. The church is largely closed, except for intermittent services. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
A likeness of American Lt. Robert J. De Lorenze, who died of battle wounds in June 1944, stares out from a stained-glass window at Saint-Pierre Church in Brassac-les-Mines, France, on March 30, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
A memorial window honoring the 401st Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force glows at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Weldon, England, on April 15, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
A stained-glass window memorializing Father (Capt.) Ignatius Maternowski is reflected in a framed portrait of Maternowski at Cauquigny Church in Normandy, France, on March 28, 2026. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)
