National Necropolis of Boulouris

Set up in 1964 and inaugurated on 15 August by General de Gaulle, then President of the Republic, this necropolis is managed by the French National Office for Veterans (ONAC: Office National des Anciens Combattants).

The alphabetical list of names (the sign at the entrance on the right), and the names on the graves recall the very varied and faraway origins of the soldiers of the French Army of the Liberation. This included soldiers from Metropolitan France having often reached North Africa via Spain, North Africans of European or local origin, immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, and not forgetting the French territories of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Religions, limited to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, are specified, as are the military units.

During the fighting in August 1944, the victims were buried on the spot and in communal cemeteries. Twenty years later, they were brought together here by the State. Only those not claimed by the families can be found here. The dates of death, indicated on each stand, range from 16 to 28 August.

A further 3077 French servicemen from the Second World War, most of whom fell in the fighting to liberate Provence, are buried at the national necropolis at Luynes. Located south of Aix-en-Provence, it was inaugurated in 1969.

The American soldiers who died are buried in the Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignan. Those from the German army are gathered at the Dagneux necropolis to the east of Lyon.

On 15 August 2019, the Boulouris National Necropolis was chosen by the President of the Republic to be the official French location for the commemoration of the Provence Landings, every 15 August.