Rhone American Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 43.536701, 6.473467
Location: Draguignan, Var
Record count: 1,155

Ownership: American Battle Monuments Commission

Directions: 553 Blvd John F. Kennedy, 83300 Draguignan, France. Rhone American Cemetery is in the city of Draguignan, France, located 40 miles west of Cannes and 16 miles inland from Frejus.

Background: Rhone American Cemetery 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 the city of Draguignan were elements of the 1st Airborne Task Force, on the night 16 August 1944. They were joined by units of the U.S. 36th Division on the next day. Rhone American Cemetery was first established 19 August 1944. Here are buried soldiers representing 39 percent of the burials which were originally made in this region; most of these men died during the operations incident to the landings on the southern coast on 15 August 1944 and the advance northward.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.

Burial Records

• Burial Records, by Interment.net, November 29, 2019, (1,155 records)

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