The site of the cemetery was liberated from German control by the U.S. 1st Infantry Division on 8 September 1944. A temporary cemetery was established on the site on 8 February 1945. After the war, the Ardennes site was designated a permanent cemetery, becoming one of 14 permanent cemeteries for American World War II dead on foreign soil. All temporary cemeteries were disestablished by the U.S. Army, and the bodies of those whose next of kin requested permanent burial overseas were moved to one of the fourteen permanent cemeteries.