On Aug. 16, 2024, at 11:30 a.m. CET, the American Battle Monuments Commission will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landings in the south of France at Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignan, France.

U.S. and local representatives, including ABMC Vice Chairman Daniel P. Woodard and family members of Pvt. Andrew Perry and 2nd Lt. Albert M. Robinson will be present at the event. The public is also invited to attend and reflect on the service and sacrifice of fallen U.S. service members.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of a series of Allied military campaigns that changed the course of World War II, including operations at Anzio-Nettuno, the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, in June; the landings in the south of France during Operation Dragoon in August; as well as the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and Luxembourg beginning in December.

Rhone American Cemetery located along the route where the U.S. Seventh Army drove up the Rhone Valley. The site was dedicated in 1956.  It was initially established on Aug. 17, 1944, after the Seventh Army’s surprise landing in Southern France. Approximately 900 U.S. military dead are buried at this site and another approximately 300 are memorialized on its wall of the missing. Most of them lost their lives in the liberation of the South of France in August 1944.

ABMC’s mission is to honor the achievements of the U.S. armed forces by preserving their legacy of service and by seeking new and innovative ways of reflecting the evolving nature of sacrifice.

Sources;

ABMC brochure and documents

RHAC team