Description:

Rhône American Cemetery & Memorial – Liberation of the South of France 15 August 1944


The site of the Rhône American Cemetery and Memorial in Draguignan was selected because of its historic location along the route of the US Seventh Army's drive up the Rhône Valley.  It was established on 19 August 19 1944 after the Seventh Army's surprise landing in southern France.

On five hectares at the foot of a hill clad with cypresses, olive trees and oleanders rest 861 of American military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the liberation of southern France in Operation Anvil / Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944.

Their headstones are arranged in straight lines, divided into four plots and grouped around an oval pool. At each end of the cemetery is a small garden. On the hillside, overlooking the cemetery, is the chapel with its wealth of decorative mosaic and large sculptured figures.

Between the chapel and the burial area, a bronze relief map recalls military operations in the region. On the retaining wall of the terrace, 294 names of the missing are inscribed. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.


The cemetery is open daily, including French public holidays, from 9 am to 5 pm except 25 December and 1 January. When the cemetery is open to the public, a staff member is on duty in the Visitor Building to answer questions and escort relatives to grave and memorial sites.

                                
                                             European Campaign Ribbon





Rhône American Cemetery & Memorial – Draguignan – Var


Video and document curtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission.




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“Lest We Forget …”  American Overseas Memorial Day Association website

Souvenir Franco-Americain Draguignan – “Association to keep alive the memory of the American soldiers who fell on French soil so that the French people could live in freedom”

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