# List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name (V)

The French government gives out the Legion of Honour awards, to both French and foreign nationals, based on a recipient's exemplary services rendered to France, or to the causes supported by France. This award is divided into five distinct categories (in ascending order), i.e. three ranks: Knight, Officer, Commander, and two titles: Grand Officer and Grand Cross. Knight is the most common and is awarded for either at least 20 years of public service or acts of military or civil bravery. The rest of the categories have a quota for the number of years of service in the category below before they can be awarded. The Officer rank requires a minimum of eight years as a Knight, and the Commander, the highest civilian category for a non-French citizen, requires a minimum of five years as an Officer. The Grand Officer and the Grand Cross are awarded only to French citizens, and each requires three years' service in their respective immediately lower rank. The awards are traditionally published and promoted on 14 July.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of recipients of the Legion of Honour awards, since the first ceremony in May 1803. 2,550 individuals can be awarded the insignia every year. The total number of awards is close to 1 million (estimated at 900,000 in 2021, including over 3,000 Grand Cross recipients), with some 92,000 recipients alive today. Only until 2008 was gender parity achieved amongst the yearly list of recipients, with the total number of women recipients since the award's establishment being only 59 at the end of the second French empire and only 26,000 in 2021.

## List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name

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| Recipient | Dates (birth – death) | General work & reason for the recognition | Award category (date) |
| Tony Vaccaro | 1922 – 2022 | U.S. war photographer. Known for his photos taken in Europe during 1944 and 1945, and in Germany immediately following World War II [Note: His award was given on the 50th anniversary of the D Day landing] | TBA (23 May 1994) |
| Rose Valland | 1898 – 1980 | France art historian, member of the French Resistance, captain in the French military, and one of the most decorated women in French history. | TBA |
| Alexander Vallaury | 1850 – 1921 | French-Ottoman architect. Known for founding architectural education and lectured in the School of Fine Arts in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire | Knight (1896) |
| Joseph Vallot | 1854 – 1925 | French scientist and mountaineer. Known for scientific research in the Mont Blanc massif and for constructing an observatory and a mountain refuge on Mont Blanc | TBA |
| Ninette de Valois | 1898 – 2001 | Irish-born United Kingdom dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Known for dancing professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and later established the Royal Ballet. | Knight (1 May 1950) |
| Albert van Dievoet | 1886 – 1980 | General Manager of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits | Knight (TBA)Officer (TBA) |
| Édouard van Dievoet | 1875 – 1961 | doctor of law and political and administrative sciences, General Manager of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits | Knight (TBA)Officer (TBA) |
| John T. van Rensalier | | 350 US Battalion Headquarters, World War I | TBA |
| Joost van Vollenhoven | 1877 – 1918 | Dutch-born French soldier and colonial administrator. | TBA |
| Hoyt Vandenberg | 1899 – 1954 | United States Air Force general | Knight (TBA)Officer (TBA)Commander (TBA)Grand Officer (TBA) |
| Cornelius Vanderbilt III | 1873 – 1942 | American military officer, inventor, engineer, and yachtsman | Knight (TBA)Officer (TBA)Commander (TBA) |
| Raphaël Varane | 1993 – Present | French professional footballer (Spanish club Real Madrid / France national football team) | Knight (2018) |
| Tibor Varga | 1921 – 2003 | Violinist, conductor, pedagogue. Known for developing pedagogic methods for teaching string music. | TBA |
| George Vari | 1923 – 2010 | Canada real estate developer and philanthropist | TBA |
| John H. Vaughn | | 45th Division, 7th US Army, World War II Technician fourth grade | TBA |
| Jan G.F. Veldhuis | 1938 – Present | Netherlands administrator/governor in the fields of science education and research, healthcare and culture (nationally and internationally) | Knight (1997) |
| Violette Verdy | 1933 – 2016 | French ballerina, choreographer, teacher, and writer. Known for working as a dance company director with the Paris Opera Ballet (France) and the Boston Ballet (United States). | Knight (presented: 2008) |
| Jules Verne | 1828 – 1905 | French novelist, poet, and playwright | Knight (9 April 1870)Officer (19 July 1892) |
| Ben Verwaayen | 1952 – Present | Netherlands businessman and a general partner of Keen Venture Partners | Knight (TBA) |
| François de Vial | 1904 – 1984 | Diplomat and Plenipotentiary Minister of France | knight (TBA)Officer (TBA) |
| Philip Vian | 1894 – 1968 | Royal Navy officer who served in both World Wars. | |
| Jehan Georges Vibert | 1840 – 1902 | French academic painter | |
| Vincent-Marie Viénot, comte de Vaublanc | 1756 – 1845 | French royalist politician, writer and artist | |
| Louis Vierne | 1870 – 1937 | French organist and composer of Notre Dame de Paris | |
| Gilles Vigneault | 1928 – Present | Québécois poet, publisher, singer-songwriter, and Quebec nationalist and sovereigntist. | |
| Jose Enrique Villa Rivera | | Mexico General director of the National Polytechnic Institute | |
| Jean-Paul Villain | | France Investment Director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority | Knight (2007) |
| Víctor Manuel Villaseñor | | Mexico General Director of the Constructora Nacional de Carros de Ferrocarril, now Bombardier Transportation México | TBA (1962) |
| Jacques-Pierre Orillard de Villemanzy | 1751 – 1830 | French military commissary general | |
| Alban de Villeneuve-Bargemon | 1784 – 1850 | Parliamentary leader of the French legitimists | |
| Jean-Félix-Albert-Marie Vilnet | 1922 – 2013 | Catholic Bishop and Council Father at Vatican II | |
| Nallam Vincatramaya | | | TBA (Nominated: 2007; Received: 2008) |
| Galina Vishnevskaya | 1926 – 2012 | Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist | |