French Military Cemetery, Saigon
| French Military Cemetery, Saigon | |
|---|---|
Interactive map of French Military Cemetery, Saigon | |
| Details | |
| Closed | August 1986 |
| Location | |
| Country | Vietnam |
| Coordinates | 10°47′42″N 106°39′14″E / 10.795°N 106.654°E |
| Type | Memorial |
French Military Cemetery, Saigon (Vietnamese: Nghĩa trang Quân đội Pháp ở Sài Gòn), was a military cemetery in Tân Sơn Hòa, Tân Bình district, Gia Định province (suburb of Saigon then, now is Tân Sơn Nhất, Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam.
The cemetery was located at the Bảy Hiền intersection, in the south of Tan Son Nhut Air Base.[1]: 340
During the Battle of West Saigon, the cemetery was the scene of extensive fighting between Viet Cong and Army of the Republic of Vietnam forces on 6-7 May 1968.[2]: 570
The cemetery was maintained at French expense, but in 1982 the Vietnamese government requested that the remains be removed from three cemeteries in densely populated areas. Rather than reburying the remains in Vietnam, it was decided to repatriate them to France.[3]
Franco-Vietnamese agreements of August 2, 1986 provided for the repatriation to France of 27,000 bodies of French soldiers and civilians from the Saigon cemetery, Vũng Tàu cemetery and Ba Huyen cemetery near Hanoi.[4] All remains were exhumed and repatriated between 1986 and 1987 and later reinterred at the Mémorial des guerres en Indochine in Fréjus, France.[3]
The former cemetery is now the Tân Bình Gymnasium and Tân Bình Exhibition & Convention Center (TBECC). Underground will have the Bảy Hiền station for the HCMC Metro Line L2 L5.
References
- ^ Doling, Tim (2019). Exploring Saigon-Cholon – Vanishing Heritage of Ho Chi Minh City. Thế Giới Publishers. ISBN 9786047761388.
- ^ Villard, Erik (2017). United States Army in Vietnam Combat Operations Staying the Course October 1967 to September 1968. Center of Military History United States Army. ISBN 9780160942808. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b "First Remains From Indochina War Returned To France". Associated Press. 10 October 1986. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ Logan, William; Nguyen, Thanh Binh (2011). The Heritage of War. Routledge. p. 50. ISBN 9781136673832.