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Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial

American Battle Monuments Commission
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Rhone

American 

Cemetery 

 and 

Memorial

LOCATION

Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial is situated in the city of Draguignan (Var), 

France, 28 miles in an air line west of Cannes and 16 miles inland from the seacoast. 

Draguignan may be reached from Paris-Marseille-St. Raphael-Nice by Autoroute 
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A6/A7/A8 (toll highway) by taking the Le Muy exit onto highway N-555 to Draguignan. 

From Cannes the cemetery may be reached via Grasse on highway N-85 (Cannes to 

Grasse) and then highway N-562 to the cemetery or highway N-7 via Frejus and Le Muy 

or Les Arcs to the city of Draguignan as shown on the map insert.

Draguignan may also be reached by the rail line from Cannes-Nice exiting the train 

at Les Arcs, a stop on the main rail line from Paris to Nice. There is bus service from Les 

Arcs to Draguignan or taxi cabs may be hired to reach the cemetery.

Hotel accommodations are available in Draguignan and at St. Raphael, Cannes and 

other towns along the Riviera. 

HOURS

The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm except December 25 

and January 1. It is open on other U.S. and host country holidays. When the cemetery is 

open to the public, a staff member is on duty in the Visitors’ Building to answer 

questions and escort relatives to grave and memorial sites.
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HISTORY

As early as August 1943, when the campaign to seize the island of Sicily was 

coming to a victorious close, a landing in southern France was under active consideration 

by Allied war planners. They believed an amphibious assault in southern France 

essential, not only to relieve some of the pressure on the troops making the principal 

amphibious assault at Normandy, but to seize the major port of Marseille.

As planning for Normandy progressed, the desirability of launching both attacks 

simultaneously became apparent. When it was determined that despite the best efforts of 

American industry enough landing craft could not be produced to make both amphibious 

landings at the same time, the decision was made to undertake the southern France 

landings as soon as possible after the Normandy landings, utilizing many of the same 

ships and craft. Meanwhile, the threat of such landings immobilized substantial enemy 

forces in the south of France for over two months, preventing their deployment against 

Allied troops in Normandy.

Beginning in mid-June 1944, U.S. and French divisions were successively pulled 

from the lines in Italy, in preparation for the southern France landings. Air bombardment 

aimed at disrupting vital communications and installations in southern France 

commenced in July and increased in intensity. As the convoys assembled to bring the 

preponderance of the assault troops from Italy, and others from as far away as Algiers, 

the Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces struck at enemy beach defenses, and the bridges 

across the Rhone River in an effort to isolate the battle area.
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During the night of 14 August, specially trained assault units landed to protect the 

flanks of the invasion areas. Then, shortly before dawn, U.S. and British troop of the 1st 

Airborne Task Force dropped near Le Muy to seize vital highway junctions.

At 0800 hours on 15 August 1944, under the cover of heavy naval bombardment by 

the Western Naval Task Force, the 3rd, 36th and 45th Divisions of the U.S. VI Corps 

stormed ashore from St. Tropaz to St. Raphael. Breaking through the steel and concrete 

fortifications, they advanced inland so rapidly that they were able to establish contact 

with the airborne units by nightfall. On the following day, as the U.S. troops pursued the 

retreating enemy, French divisions landed and began moving westward toward the ports 

of Toulon and Marseille.

The 3rd Division on the left flank drove directly up the Rhone Valley, as the other 

VI Corps units of the U.S. Seventh Army advanced northward. Within ten days, 

Grenoble was liberated and a U.S. task force was moving westward to meet the 3rd 

Division attacking up the valley. By 28 August, the defile at Montelimar had been 

seized, cutting off large numbers of the retreating enemy, and Toulon and Marseille had 

been liberated by French troops.

The advance of the U.S. VI Corps continued without pause, while the U.S. Twelfth 

Air Force harassed the retreating enemy from the air. Lyon was liberated on 3 September 

and by 7 September, U.S. troops had reached Besancon. On 11 September at Sombernon 

west of Dijon, U.S. Seventh Army units met patrols from the U.S. Third Army advancing 
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from Normandy. In less than one month U.S. forces had advanced 400 miles from the 

beaches of southern France, isolating all remaining units in southwestern France. Ten 

days later the U.S. Seventh and Third Armies joined in strength near Epinal and 

established a solid line extending to the Swiss frontier. 

SITE

The site covers 12 acres near the eastern edge of the city of Draguignan, at the foot of a 

hill clad with the characteristic cypresses, olive trees and oleanders of southern France. 

Across the Street opposite the cemetery are schools and playgrounds. Just west of the 

cemetery is the civilian cemetery of the city of Draguignan.

The first U.S. troops to enter Draguignan were elements of the 1st Airborne Task 

Force, on the night of 16 August 1944. They were joined by units of the U.S. 36th 

Division on the next day. Rhone American Cemetery was first established on 19 August 

1944. Here are buried 861 of our military Dead representing 39 per cent of the burials 

which were originally made in this region; most of these men died during the operations 

incident to the landing on the southern coast on 15 August 1944 and the advance 

northward. The official name of the cemetery is derived from the Rhone River whose 

watershed was the scene of these operations. Construction of the cemetery and memorial 

was completed in 1956.
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ARCHITECTS

Architect for the cemetery and memorial was Henry J. Toombs of Atlanta, George. The 

Landscape Architect was A. F. Brinckerhoff of New York.

GENERAL LAYOUT

The main entrance to the cemetery is on the north side of Boulevard Kennedy. 

Immediately to the right of the entrance gate is the Visitors’ Building – to the east (right) 

of it is the parking area. Beyond the gate is the graves area within an oval wall built of 

local limestone with a coping of Ampilly limestone from central France. To the north, 

beyond the graves, is the memorial. In the northeast corner are the superintendent’s 

quarters as well as the utilities area, the reservoirs and water purification system. In the 

southeast corner of the reservation is the deep well to an underground stream from which 

water is pumped to the reservoirs.

Outside the oval wall, masses of shrubs backed by trees enclose the cemetery.
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THE MEMORIAL

To the right and left of the memorial are the two flagstaffs 66 1⁄2 feet high. Between them 

is the bronze relief map on which are portrayed the military operations in the area 

beginning with the landings on the beaches south of Draguignan on 15 August 1944 

followed by the advance up the valley of the Rhone.

The bronze relief map was fabricated by Bruno Bearzi of Florence, Italy, from data 

furnished by the American Battle Monuments Commission. At the near end of the map is 

a brief description in English and French of the military operations; the English version 

follows:

ON 15 AUGUST 1944 THE ALLIED FORCES LAUNCHED THEIR CAMPAIGN TO 

ASSIST THE NORMANDY OPERATION AND LIBERATE SOUTHERN FRANCE. 

THE PREPARATORY AIR BOMBARDMENT HAD BEGUN IN JULY AND HAD 

GROWN STEADILY IN INTENSITY. AS THE ASSAULT CONVOYS 

ASSEMBLED, THE U.S. TWELFTH AND FIFTEENTH AIR FORCES STRUCK AT 

THE BEACH DEFENSES, AS WELL AS AT THE BRIDGES ASTRIDE THE RHONE 

TO ISOLATE THE BATTLE AREA.
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ON THE EVE OF THE ATTACK SPECIALLY TRAINED ASSAULT UNITS 

LANDED TO PROJECT THE FLANKS OF THE INVASION BEACHES. BEFORE 

DAWN AIRBORNE TROOPS DROPPED NEAR LE MUY TO SEIZE HIGHWAY 

JUNCTIONS NECESSARY TO ASSURE THE ALLIED ADVANCE. AT 0800 THE 

U.S. VI CORPS MOVED ASHORE UNDER COVER OF BOMBARDMENT BY THE 

WESTERN NAVAL TASK FORCE. BREAKING THROUGH STEEL AND 

CONCRETE FORTIFICATIONS THE U.S. 3RD, 36TH AND 45TH DIVISIONS 

PUSHED RAPIDLY INLAND. 

IN A TWO-PRONGED ADVANCE THE U.S. SEVENTH ARMY LIBERATED 

GRENOBLE AND WITHIN TEN DAYS WAS ENVELOPING MONTELIMAR TO 

TRAP THE ENEMY. MEANWHILE FRENCH UNITS HAD LANDED AND 

THRUST WESTWARD TO TOULON AND MARSEILLE. BY THE END OF THE 

MONTH THE ALLIED GROUND TROOPS WERE APPROACHING LYON 

PRECEDED BY THE U.S. TWELFTH AIR FORCE WHOSE ATTACKS 

DISORGANIZED THE FLEEING ENEMY. BY 7 SEPTEMBER U.S. FORCES HAD 

REACHED BESANCON AND WERE MOVING ON BELFORT AND EPINAL. 

FOUR DAYS LATER THE ALLIED FORCES FROM NORMANDY AND 

SOUTHERN FRANCE JOINED HANDS AT SOMBERNON, THUS ISOLATING ALL 

GERMAN UNITS REMAINING IN SOUTHWEST FRANCE. THE ALLIES COULD 

NOW DEVOTE THEIR EFFORTS TO THE DEFEAT OF THE NAZIS IN GERMANY 

ITSELF.
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The relief map which is 20 feet long and 11 feet wide is at a horizontal scale of 

1:100,000 (1.6 miles to the inch); the vertical scale has been exaggerated three times 

(2,750 feet to the inch). It is set on a base of Rocheret Clair limestone from the Jura 

region of eastern France.

On each side of this relief map, on Rocheret stone table tops between the benches, 

are the two sets of key maps: “The War Against Germany” and “The War Against 

Japan.” On the facade of the Memorial is the heroic-size sculpture, designed by Edmund 

Amateis of Brewster, New York, of the Angel of Peace nurturing the new generation. 

Beneath is the inscription:

WE WHO LIE HERE DIED THAT FUTURE

GENERATIONS MIGHT LIVE IN PEACE.

The actual carving of the sculpture was by Georges Granger of Chalon-sur-Saone. 
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THE CHAPEL

The chapel is entered from the terrace through handsome bronze grilles on the east or 

west sides. The memorial, like the Wall of the Missing, is also built of Rocheret 

limestone from the Jura region.

Much of the interior of the chapel is decorated with mosaics designed by, and 

fabricated and installed under the supervision of, Austin Purves of Litchfield, 

Connecticut. The mosaic mural in the apse was conceived by the artist to recall the 

eternal care of the Almighty, understanding and transcending the personal grief of 

bereavement, and encouraging new hope for this and for future generations. The grief 

stricken pair beneath the willow tree symbolize the mourning relatives of the dead, but 

apparently sleeping, youth held by the mystical figure of goodness and strength – the type 

of uniform, helmet and rifle characterize him as an American.

The figure of Saint Louis of France, on the right, standing on the walls of the city 

of Aigues-Mortes recalls an earlier crusader who set sail, as symbolized by the ship (now 

part of the arms of the City of Paris), from a port in this region. Behind him is the Sainte 

Chapelle built in Paris to enshrine the relics of his crusade. The French inscription 
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beneath is ascribed to Saint Louis – “May faithful friends,” he said – “we shall be 

unconquerable if we remain united in charity.” (The French text was found in an ancient 

record.)

It will be recalled that the American crusade was symbolized by the crusader’s 

sword which appeared in the emblem of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary 

Force.

The bird in the shrub between the headstones and the central figure serves as a 

reminder that notwithstanding the tragic upheavals of war, nature continues its evolution 

unceasingly.

On the left of the apse is this extract from Cardinal Newman’s prayer:

O LORD SUPPORT US ALL THE DAY LONG UNTIL OUR WORK IS DONE

THEN IN THY MERCY GRANT US A HOLY REST AND PEACE AT THE LAST.

The ceiling is in blue mosaic with gold stars. The rear wall mosaic contains an 

adaptation of the Great seal of the United States and this inscription (with French 

translation):

THIS CHAPEL HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

AS A SACRED RENDEZVOUS OF A GRATEFUL PEOPLE

WITH ITS IMMORTAL DEAD.
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The altar is of Vert des Alpes marble from the valley of Aoste (Val d’Aoste) in the 

Italian Alps. A Latin cross is engraved at one end; the Tablets of Moses at the other. The 

altar cloth is of Florentine leather, the cross and candlesticks of polished brass. The priedieu and the pew are of teakwood. An American flag hangs from the wall on either side 

of the altar.

Engraved in the walls flanking the apse is a list of the major units which 

participated in the military operations in this region:

On the left side (facing the altar):

SOUTHERN FRANCE

1944

MAJOR ARMY

AND

AIR FORCE UNITS ENGAGED

UNITED STATES ARMY

SEVENTH ARMY, VI CORPS

3RD INFANTRY DIVISION, 36TH INFANTRY DIVISION, 45TH INFANTRY 

DIVISION, 1ST AIRBORNE TASK FORCE, 1ST SPECIAL SERVICE FORCE

TWELTH AIR FORCE, FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE, XII TACTICAL AIR COMMAND, 

PROVISIONAL TROOP CARRIER AIR DIVISION

ARMEE FRANCAISE

ARMEE B, 1ST, 2ND CORPS D’ARMEE

1ST DIVISION FRANCAISE LIBRE, 2ND DIVISION D’INF MAROCAINE, 3 RD 

DIVISION D’INF ALGERIENNE, 9TH DIVISION D’INF COLONIALE, 1ST 

DIVISION BLINDEE, 1ST BRIGADE DE SPAHIS, 1ST, 2ND, 3RD GROUPEMENTS 

DE TABORS MAROCAINS, 1ST, 2ND, 3RD GROUPEMENTS DE CHOC

UNITES AERIENNES

FORCES FRANCAISES DE L’INTERIEUE

BRITISH ARMY

2 INDEPENDENT PARACHUTE BRIGADE

ROYAL AIR FORCE
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202 GROUP (FLIGHTER)

On the right side (facing the altar):

SOUTHERN FRANCE

1944

MAJOR NAVAL UNITS ENGAGED

WESTERN NAVAL TASK FORCE

UNITED STATES NAVY

515 SHIPS AND CRAFT

INCLUDING

BATTLESHIPS: ARKANSAS, NEVADA, TEXAS. HEAVY CRUISERS: 

AUGUSTA, QUINCY, TUSCALOOSA. LIGHT CRUISERS: BROOKLYN, 

CINCINNATI, MARBLEHEAD, OMAHA, PHILADELPHIA. ESCORT CARRIERS: 

KASAAN BAY, TULAGI

ROYAL NAVY

283 SHIPS AND CRAFT

INCLUDING

1 BATTLESHIP, 10 LIGHT CRUISERS

AND

7 ESCORT CARRIERS

MARINE DE GUERRE FRANCAISE

12 SHIPS AND CRAFT

INCLUDING

1 BATTLESHIP AND 5 LIGHT CRUISERS

ROYAL HELLENIC NAVY

7 SHIPS AND CRAFT

ALLIED MERCHANT VESSELS

63 SHIPS AND CRAFT

At each end of the terrace outside the chapel is a fountain of red granite (Granit de 

la Clarte) from Brittany, and a pool. Behind the Memorial the hill rises steeply.
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THE WALL OF THE MISSING

On the face of the retaining wall of the terrace of the Memorial are inscribed the names 

and particulars of 294 of our Missing:

United States Army and Airforce 1257

United States Navy 37

These men gave their lives in the service of their Country but their remains have 

not been identified. The lists include men from every State in the Union except Arizona, 

Delaware, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Wyoming. 

Heading these lists is the inscription:

** 1941 ** 1945 **

HERE ARE RECORDED THE NAMES OF AMERICANS

WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY

AND WHO SLEEP IN UNKNOWN GRAVES.

Without confirmed information to the contrary, a War Department Administrative 

Review board established the official date of death of those commemorated on the 
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Tablets of the Missing as one year and a day from the date on which the individual was 

placed in Missing in action status.

GRAVES AREA

The graves area is divided into four plots about the oval pool, which is set at the 

intersection of the axes of the cemetery. The 861 headstones are arranged in straight 

lines; planted among them are olive trees, which lend an unforgettable peacefulness to the 

scene.

The Dead who gave their lives in our Country’s service came form every State in 

the Union except North Dakota; some came form the District of Columbia and Puerto 

Rico. Sixty-two of the headstones mark the graves of “Unknowns.” Here, also, side by 

side in two instances, are the graves of two brothers.

PLANTINGS

The long terrace outside the Chapel is lined with a double row of closely planted Italian 

cypress, which forms a green curtain behind the Chapel and across the ends of the 

terrace. The areas at the two sides, enclosed with low formal hedges, are planted with 

redbud trees (cercis canadensis) and strawberry trees (arbutus unedo).

The entire grave plots area is framed by a row of hackberry (Celtis Australis) trees 

behind which plantings of oleander, crepe myrtle and various shrubs accentuate the inside 
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oval perimeter wall, while a great variety of trees and shrubs soften the wall’s exterior 

outline.

THE GARDENS

Outside of the oval wall and on the transverse axis of the cemetery are the East and West 

Gardens. The East Garden is an intimate enclosure with a small circular pool, which has 

a background of tall Italian cypress. It is surrounded with beds of broad-leaved 

evergreens, including oleander and crepe myrtle, as well as seasonal plants to provide 

color in the summer.

The West Garden is somewhat smaller; its pool is octagonal in form, and is set in a 

brick pavement in contrast to the green lawn of the East Garden. It is enclosed by a high 

sheared hedge of Arizona cypress and planted with a few of the summer-flowering shrubs 

of the region.

VISITORS’ BUILDING

Immediately to the right of the entrance gate is the Visitors’ Building. The parking area 

is adjacent to the building on the east (right) side.

It contains the Superintendent’s office, toilet facilities, and a comfortably furnished 

room where visitors may obtain information, sign the register and pause to refresh 
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themselves. During visiting hours a member of the cemetery staff is available in the 

building to answer questions and provide information on burials and memorializations in 

the Commission's cemeteries, accommodations in the vicinity, travel, local history and 

other items of interest.