The Memorial Cloister is located in a corridor between a small courtyard and the cathedral itself. If you enter the cathedral's foyer from Avenue George V, the cloister is diagonally opposite the entrance. The Memorial Cloister is a collection of engravings dedicated to American military units and civil organizations that were engaged in the First World War. Other plaques in the cloister commemorate the sacrifice of American service members during both world wars and the soldiers who are interred in overseas American cemeteries in Europe.

The American service plaques are located immediately inside the Memorial Cloister on the left-hand side. It is directly across the hallway from a similar plaque dedicated to the civilian casualties of World War II. There are also the American Cemetery plaques which are a series of four plaques all located on the opposite side of the hallway from the engravings. The plaques are located on pillars of the cloister between large open spaces through which the cathedral's courtyard is visible.

The Battle Memorial Cloister of the American Cathedral was the first monument to Americans who died in the First World War. It was dedicated on Memorial Day 1923, in a ceremony attended by the former French President, the US Ambassador to France, and other Allied dignitaries. It was re-dedicated for the centennial of Armistice in November 2018. 

At the end of the First World War, families of American soldiers lost in the war asked to place memorial plaques in the Church of the Holy Trinity, as it was known in 1918. Dean Frederick Beekman and the vestry opted for an encompassing, rather than individual, memorial, working with architect Bertram Goodhue and sculptor Michel Tarnowsky. 

The four cloister panels represent the 116,000 American soldiers who died in the war, of the 2 million Americans who came to France to fight. It also includes casualties of the civilian units who supported France from 1914 to 1917, before the US entered the war, such as the Lafayette Escadrille of volunteer American pilots, and the volunteer drivers of the American Ambulance Service and the American Field Service. 

Under the canopy stands Columbia Sheathing Her Sword, a sculpture by Mahonri Young, that includes a representation of the American flag with 48 stars, the insignia of the four branches of the military, and in bas-relief at the top, scenes of major battlefields such as St. Mihiel and the Somme. 

In 1994, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution sponsored seven additional plaques to the memory of American soldiers who died in the Second World War. The cloister had not left room for them in the first version; its creators had thought it was the war to end all wars. 

At the dedication ceremony, US Ambassador Myron T. Herrick noted that his generation and those to come were all trustees of the heritage of sacrifice the wall represents. Former French President Raymond Poincaré, French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, British Field Marshal Sir William Robertson, and Belgian General Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude were among the Allied dignitaries who attended.

Entrance Plaque:

"1914-1918

Memorial

Cloister

1939-1945

O Lord, Receive Into Thy Hands

All Those Who Died In Evrope

For Liberty And Jvstice Dvring

The Two World Wars

Seignevr, Reçois Entre Tes Mains

Tovs Les Heros Morts En Evrope

Pour La Liberte Et La Jvstice Pendant

Les Devx Gverres Mondiales"

Engravings:

“First Division

213 Officers 5370 Men

Montdidier Noyon

Aisne-Marne

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Picardy

Second Division

205 Officers 5149 Men

Aisne

Aisne-Marne

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Ile De France

Third Division

143 Officers 3705 Men

Aisne

Champagne-Marne

Aisne-Marne

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Ile De France

Somme

Fourth Division

115 Officers 3166 Men

Aisne-Marne

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Champagne

Lorraine

Fifth Division

107 Officers 2340 Men

Alsace

Lorraine

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Sixth Division

11 Officers 417 Men

Alsace

Mevse-Argonne

Seventh Division

16 Officers 532 Men

Lorraine

Twenty Sixth Division

102 Officers 2615 Men

Champagne-Marne

Aisne-Marne

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Ile De France

Lorraine

Twenty Seventh Division

77 Officers 2067 Men

Flanders

Ypres-Lys

Somme

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Twenty Eighth Division

120 Officers 3002 Men

Champagne-Marne

Aisne-Marne

Oise-Aisne

Mevse-Argonne

Champagne

Lorraine

Ypres-Lys

Young Mens

Christian Association

92 Members

Salvation Army

1 Member

Twenty Ninth Division

41 Officers 1376 Men

Alsace

Mevse-Argonne

Thirtieth Division

74 Officers 1865 Men

Flanders

Ypres-Lys

Thirty Second Division

148 Officers 3290 Men

Aisne-Marne

Oise-Marne

Mevse-Argonne

Alsace

Champagne

Thirty Third Division

47 Officers 1177 Men

Somme

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Picardy

Thirty Fifth Division

54 Officers 1558 Men

Mevse-Argonne

Alsace, Lorraine

Thirty Sixth Division

32 Officers 792 Men

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Champagne

Thirty Seventh Division

Mevse-Argonne

Ypres-Lys

Lorraine

Forty Second Division

103 Officers 3148 Men

Champagne-Marne

Aisne-Marne

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Champagne

Seventy Seventh Division

106 Officers 2405 Men

Lorraine

Champagne

Oise-Aisne

Mevse-Argonne

Seventy Eighth Division

52 Officers 1770 Men

St. Mihiel

Lorraine

Mevse-Argonne

American

Red Cross

194 Members

Seventy Ninth Division

68 Officers 2065 Men

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Eightieth Division

60 Officers 1432 Men

Picardy

St. Mihiel

Lorraine

Mevse-Argonne

Eighty First Division

17 Officers 562 Men

Lorraine

Mevse-Argonne

Eighty Second Division

62 Officers 1576 Men

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Eighty Eighth Division

8 Officers 801 Men

Alsace

101 Army Nvrses

Eighty Ninth Division

62 Officers 1690 Men

St. Mihiel, Lorraine

Mevse-Argonnne

Ninetieth Division

55 Officers 1677 Men

Lorrain

St. Mihiel

Mevse-Argonne

Ninety First Division

59 Officers 1605 Men

Mevse-Argonne

Ypres-Lys, Lorraine

Ninety Second Division

12 Officers 435 Men

Mevse-Argonne

Lorraine

Ninety Third Division

38 Officers 744 Men

Champagne-Marne

Mevse-Argonne

Champagne, Oise-Aisne

Alsace, Lorraine

Field Artillery

Independent

9 Officers 472 Men

Coast Artillery

Independent

34 Officers 955 Men

Champagne-Marne

St. Mihiel

Alsace, Lorraine

Cavalry

3 Officers 90 Men

Replacements

1 Officer 287 Men

Knights Of Colvmbus

11 Members

Jewish Welfare Board

2 Members

Mevse-Argonne

8 31 34 38 39 40 41 76 83 84 85 86 87

Replacement Divisions 90 Officers 4159 Men St. Mihiel

Lorraine

Mevse-Argonne

Officers 6770 Men

American & European

Waters & The High Seas

Marine Corps

90 Officers 2671 Men

All Battles

Of The Second Division

Tank Corps & Infantry

14 Officers 33 Officers

138 Men 3187 Men

St. Mihiel, Mevse-Argonne

Aviation Corps

583 Officers 676 Men

All Fronts

Engineers

60 Officers 2028 Men

French British And

American Fronts

Signal Corps

14 Officers 258 Men

All Fronts

Chemical Warfare

Service

10 Officers 75 Men

Medical Corps And

Ambulance Service

209 Officers 1076 Men

All Fronts

Qvartermaster Corps

51 Officers 2601 Men

Ordinance Corps

14 Officers 271 Men

Over Intrepid Few Who For Their Countrys Greatness Dies

Foreign Legion

32 Officers & Men

Where The Battles

Wreck Lay Thickest

Lafayette Escadrille

62 Officers & Men

Verdvn To Dvnkirk

Americans In Canadian

& Other Allied Forces

Abovt 3000 Officers

& Men

American Ambvlance

25 Members

Western Front

Entrenched Camp Of Paris

American Field Service

127 Members

French & Balkan Fronts

Sections Sanitaires

Avtomobiles Americains

Formation Harjes Formation Norton

21 Members

Aux Armees Francaises

Headquarters &

Administrative Units

67 Officers 477 Men

Chaplains Corps

23 Officers

All Fronts”

Dedication Engraving:

"To The Memory Of Ovr Dead

Those Americans

Who Dvring The Great War Of 1914-1918

Came Overseas With Their Comrades

Two Million Strong And Gave Their

Lives Fighting Beside Their Allies

For Covntry For Hvmanity For God

These Cloister Memorials Are

Dedicated In Gratitvde

And Pride

They Loved Not Their Lives Vnto The Death

Let Light Perpetual Shine Vpon Them

A La Memoire De Nos Morts

Ces Americains

Qvi Pendant La Grande Gverre

De 1914-1918 Franchirent Les Mers

Avec Devx Millions De Levrs Camarades

Et Firent La Svpreme Sacrifice

Combattant Avx Cotes De Levrs Allies

Povr Levr Patri Povr L'Hvmanite

Povr Diev Ce Monvment Est Consacre

Avec Reconnaissance Et Fierte

Ils Ne Preferent Pas Levr Vie

A La Mort

Qve La Lumiere Eternelle Lvise Svr Evx"

American Service Members Plaque:

"1939

1945

In Memory

Of the 138,000 Members Of

America's Armed Forces Who

Gave Their Lives In Evrope

Dvring World War II

A La Memoire Des 138000 Morts Des

Forces Armees Des Etats Vnis

Pendant La Seconds Gverre Mondiale

En Evrope"

American Cemetery Plaques:

Plaque 1:

"World War II

American Military Cemeteries

Ardennes

4998

Brittany

4811

Cambridge

8914"

Plaque 2:

"World War II

American Military Cemeteries

Epinal

5610

Henri-Chapelle

8345

Lorraine

10775"

Plaque 3:

"World War II

American Military Cemeteries

Luxembourg

5344

Netherlands

9884

Normandy

10629"

Plaque 4:

"World War II

American Military Cemeteries

Rhone

1090

Sicily-Rome

10458

Florence

5566"