Adjacent to the 'La Cité de la Mer' Museum area on the Lawton Collins Pier.

A pink marble monument with plaques attached to the front and an information sign.

The memorial remembers the SS Leopoldville troopship disaster that occurred on Christmas Eve 1944.  From the website https://leopoldville.org:

"On Christmas Eve 1944, the Belgian troopship Leopoldville left the pier at Southampton, England, with over 2,000 American soldiers assigned to the 66th Infantry Division and crossed the English Channel to France. Just 5 1/2 miles from its destination, Cherbourg, the Leopoldville was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-486. There were 763 American soldiers killed, and the bodies of 493 were never recovered from the frigid 48-degree waters."

The group " Mémoire & Database" is documenting the biographies of those killed during this sinking; see this website for this listing:

 https://www.database-memoire.eu/prive/en-us/2238-number-portraits

This memorial was dedicated in May 2025, led by the group "Mémoire & Database".

Another memorial remembers this event in Weymouth, England.  See Site Weymouth, Weymouth American (Exercise Tiger; Leopoldville; Rangers; Normandy Landings) Memorial

References and for this entry and for more information on this disaster see:

https://www.database-memoire.eu/prive/en-us/

https://leopoldville.org

The text on the plaque on the monument is inscribed in French and English.  The English reads:

(Symbol of the 66th Infantry Division)

(Etching of the sinking of the SS Leopoldville)

Text:

We, the people of France, are proud to dedicate this monument

to the US Army 66th Infantry Division.

This monument id dedicated to the 763 men

of the 66th Infantry Division who lost their lives

on Christmas Eve 1944 during the sinking of the Leopoldville

off the coast of Cherbourg.

We also pay homage to the survivors of the sinking

who along with the entire 66th Infantry Division

continued the effort toward our freedom.