On 6 June 1944, 34,250 American soldiers landed on Omaha Beach; human losses were truly heavy. Estimated for a long time at 2,500 men, with 1,500 killed or missing, these losses have raised today up to 4,700, with 2,000 dead or missing, according to the American Historian J. Balkoski. The 18 hours of the battle of Omaha Beach were the costliest for the American Army. The duty of remembrance is imposed at the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, where 9,387 soldiers who died during the Battle of Normandy are buried.