Visitors have not been able to pay their respects to the 9,387 military dead at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Omaha Beach since the U.S. government shut it down on Monday, The Associated Press reported.
Ten additional cemeteries in France, as well as others in various European countries as well as Mexico, Panama, Tunisia and the Philippines, will remain closed during the shutdown, the report said.
A sign outside the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial, west of Paris, posted a sign reading, “Due to the United States government shutdown, this site is closed to the public,” Agence France-Presse reported.
The cemeteries are maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, set up after World War I.
The cemeteries will reopen “when a new funding measure is passed by the US Congress and signed by the president of the United States,” the commission said.
Christopher Palmer, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Paris, confirmed the move, AFP reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.