On the lower hillside.

Plaque
A small rectangular stone plaque that tells what the nearby monument was erected for. The plaque is written in French in incised lettering.

The OSS Team was lead by a US Marine, Colonel Peter 'Pierre" Ortiz who lead a team of US Marines during the French Resistance Re-supply operation.

During Operation Union II, along with Ortiz on this mission were Army Air Forces Captain Francis Coolidge, and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Robert La Salle, Sergeants Charles Perry, John P. Bodnar, Frederick J. Brunner, and Jack R. Risler, as well as a Free French officer, Joseph Arcelin, who carried false identification which showed him to be a U.S. Marine.

During the Para drop, Perry’s static line snapped causing him to fall to his death on the jump in. The rest of the team buried him on the drop zone. The men were advising the “Bulle” Battalion to support the Allied landings in Southern France (Operation Dragoon). The Army Air Corps (388th Bomber Squadron) dropped 864 bundles of weapons, equipment, and supplies to support the team and their efforts.

This OSS team was unique in the European Theater as it was composed of mostly US Marine Corps Marines.

Sergeant Perry is the only USMC burial in the Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial in Draguignan, France.

CE MONUMENT

A ETE ERIGE EN SOUVENIR DE

L'HISTORIQUE PARACHUTAGE

DU 1ER AOUT 1944

English translation:

THIS MONUMENT

WAS ERECTED IN MEMORY OF

THE HISTORICAL PARA-DROP

ON AUGUST 1ST 1944