Mémorial des guerres en Indochine

French Indochina, which included Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina, Cambodia, and then Laos, was created in 1887. Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Viet Minh, proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. For eight years, starting in 1946, the Viet Minh waged total war against the colonists. In early 1954, it managed to surround and suffocate Dien Bien Phu. There, after five months of fierce fighting, it overcame the French resistance. The French presence in the Far East ended.

On September 14, 1956, the last French soldier embarked in Saigon.

The signing of the Franco-Vietnamese protocol of 1986 required the search for a site for the construction of a necropolis in France. This would be Fréjus, long anchored in colonial history, where there had been a camp for soldiers leaving for Indochina.

The laying of the first stone of the necropolis by Mr. Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister, took place on January 19, 1988. This was followed by the inauguration of the Memorial by Mr. François Mitterrand, then President of the Republic.

The bodies destined to rest in the Fréjus necropolis are those of soldiers "who died for France" but also of civilians. In addition to the project of building a necropolis, there was also the project of creating a historical room. From there came the name "Memorial of the Wars in Indochina".

The memorial is located on a plot of 23403 m2 and was designed by the architect Bernard Desmoulin, who is responsible for the partial restoration of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the interior design of the main building of the Château de Versailles.

It is part of a peripheral circulation of 110 m in diameter, the circle symbolizing both the journey and the military enclosure inheriting the spiritual circle of the tribes. "It is a kind of metaphor of the loop interrupted by death...".

The rows of alveoli received the bones of 17250 identified soldiers. In the crypt, the mortal remains of 3152 unknown victims rest in an ossuary.

The total number of bodies is 23945 and 34955 are inscribed on the memorial wall, these are soldiers whose bodies were returned to their families, soldiers who were missing or bodies that remained on site. A cultural place with the four main religions represented and a historical evocation room complete the ensemble.

General Bigeard's ashes were also transferred in 2012 to the Indochina War Memorial, the date chosen of November 20 is that of Operation Castor, during which he jumped on Dien Bien Phu at the head of his paratroopers.

The Memorial is owned by the Ministry of Veterans and War Victims. It is managed by the Interdepartmental Directorate of Veterans and War Victims in Marseille.

Expected duration of visit: 1 hour