Geneviève de Galard
Encyclopedia
Geneviève de Galard is a French
nurse who was dubbed l'ange de Dien Bien Phu ("the Angel of Dien Bien Phu") during the French war in Indochina
by the press in Hanoi
, although in the camp she was known simply as Geneviève.
Geneviève de Galard was born in the southwest of France. The Second World War
forced her family to move from Paris
to Toulouse
.
She passed the state exam to become a nurse and eventually became a flight nurse
for the French Air Force
. She was posted to French Indochina
by her own request and arrived there in May 1953, in the middle of the war between French forces and the Vietminh.
Serving as a convoyeuse or in-flight nurse, she was stationed in Hanoi
and flew on casualty evacuation flights from Pleiku
. After January 1954, she was on the flights that evacuated casualties from the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
. Her first patients were mainly soldiers who suffered from diseases but after mid-March most of them were battle casualties. Sometimes, Red Cross planes had to land in the midst of Vietminh artillery
barrages.
Galard found herself stuck in Dien Bien Phu on March 28 when the C-47
on which she was the convoyeuse landed in fog and damaged an oil tank which prevented its taking off again. The mechanics could not repair the plane in the field, so the plane was stranded. At daylight Vietminh artillery destroyed the C-47 and damaged the runway beyond repair.
Volunteering to work in the field hospital
, Galard was the only female nurse at Dien Bien Phu. Her special status earned her a small parachute silk-lined cell with a cot and chair for a bedroom. In a letter, her mother expressed gratitude for her safety, mentioning that there was no longer a risk of her plane crashing. At the hospital she served under Dr. Paul Grauwin
. The men of the medical staff were initially apprehensive about her presence as she was not just the only female nurse on the base, but the sole French woman there, although there were two Bordels Mobiles de Campagne populated with Algerian
and Vietnamese prostitutes. Her hard work and willingness to tackle even the most gruesome tasks eventually won them over and they made accommodations for her. They also arranged a semblance of uniform; camouflage overalls, trousers, basketball shoes, and a t-shirt. Galard did her best in very unsanitary conditions, comforting those about to die and trying to keep up morale in the face of the mounting casualties. Many of the men later complimented her efforts. Eventually, she was placed in charge of a forty-bed room for housing some of the most gravely wounded.
On 29 April 1954, Geneviève de Galard was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Légion d´honneur and the Croix de Guerre
. It was presented to her by the commander of Dien Bien Phu, General de Castries
. The following day, during the celebration of the French Foreign Legion
's annual "Camerone", de Galard was made an honorary Légionnaire de 1ère classe alongside Lieutenant Colonel Marcel Bigeard
, the commander of the 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion
. After the induction ceremony she told her Foreign Legionnaire sponsor: "If we ever get out of this alive, I'll pay you a bottle of champagne no matter where we meet." In 1963 while driving with her husband in Paris she saw the Legionnaire, got out of her car, embraced him and made good on her promise.
French troops at Dien Bien Phu finally capitulated on 7 May. However, the Vietminh allowed Galard and the medical staff continue to care for their wounded and she worked changing bandages despite short supplies. Galard still refused any kind of cooperation. When some of the Vietminh begun to hoard medical supplies for their own use, she hid some of them under her stretcher bed.
On 24 May, Geneviève de Galard was evacuated to French-held Hanoi, partially against her will. She was the first of the medical staff to leave and quickly became a media sensation, appearing on the cover of Paris Match that week.
As early as May 19, when Galard was still in captivity, U.S. Congresswoman Frances P. Bolton
urged United States Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles
to invite the French nurse to the United States. When she arrived in New York City
in July, she was met at the plane by Mayor Robert Wagner
and a large crowd. Congresswoman Bolton introduced her as a "symbol of heroic femininity in the free world" and a parade down Broadway
in her honor was attended by perhaps 250,000 spectators. She was then given a reception at city hall.
Having flown to Washington, D.C.
on a U.S. Air Force plane, she was recognized before the House of Representatives
. On 29 July 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom
during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden
, calling her the "woman of the year" She was then sent on a tour of six states where she met with luminaries and appeared before large crowds in cities such as Cleveland, Chicago
, New Orleans, and San Francisco. The French ambassador to the United States called her visit "an exceptional success".
Geneviève de Galard lives in Paris with her husband General Jean de Heaulme de Boutsocq.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
nurse who was dubbed l'ange de Dien Bien Phu ("the Angel of Dien Bien Phu") during the French war in Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
by the press in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, although in the camp she was known simply as Geneviève.
Geneviève de Galard was born in the southwest of France. The Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
forced her family to move from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
.
She passed the state exam to become a nurse and eventually became a flight nurse
Flight nurse
A Flight Nurse is traditionally a specialty where highly trained Registered Nurses provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and critical care to all types of patients during aeromedical evacuation or rescue operations aboard helicopter and propeller aircraft or jet aircraft.Flight Nurses are...
for the French Air Force
French Air Force
The French Air Force , literally Army of the Air) is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, a service arm of the French Army, then was made an independent military arm in 1933...
. She was posted to French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
by her own request and arrived there in May 1953, in the middle of the war between French forces and the Vietminh.
Serving as a convoyeuse or in-flight nurse, she was stationed in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and flew on casualty evacuation flights from Pleiku
Pleiku
Pleiku is a town in central Vietnam, located in that nation's central highland region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province; it is inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or Degar....
. After January 1954, she was on the flights that evacuated casualties from the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
. Her first patients were mainly soldiers who suffered from diseases but after mid-March most of them were battle casualties. Sometimes, Red Cross planes had to land in the midst of Vietminh artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
barrages.
Galard found herself stuck in Dien Bien Phu on March 28 when the C-47
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
on which she was the convoyeuse landed in fog and damaged an oil tank which prevented its taking off again. The mechanics could not repair the plane in the field, so the plane was stranded. At daylight Vietminh artillery destroyed the C-47 and damaged the runway beyond repair.
Volunteering to work in the field hospital
Field hospital
A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
, Galard was the only female nurse at Dien Bien Phu. Her special status earned her a small parachute silk-lined cell with a cot and chair for a bedroom. In a letter, her mother expressed gratitude for her safety, mentioning that there was no longer a risk of her plane crashing. At the hospital she served under Dr. Paul Grauwin
Paul-Henri Grauwin
Paul-Henri Grauwin was a medical doctor who served with the French Army, most notably commanding the "Mobile Surgical Unit" during the prolonged Battle of Dien Bien Phu, after which he was taken prisoner and briefly held captive by the Viet Minh....
. The men of the medical staff were initially apprehensive about her presence as she was not just the only female nurse on the base, but the sole French woman there, although there were two Bordels Mobiles de Campagne populated with Algerian
Algerian
Algerian may refer to:* Something of, or related to Algeria* A person or people from Algeria, or of Algerian descent. For information about the Algerian people, see Demographics of Algeria and Culture of Algeria. For specific Algerians, see List of Algerians....
and Vietnamese prostitutes. Her hard work and willingness to tackle even the most gruesome tasks eventually won them over and they made accommodations for her. They also arranged a semblance of uniform; camouflage overalls, trousers, basketball shoes, and a t-shirt. Galard did her best in very unsanitary conditions, comforting those about to die and trying to keep up morale in the face of the mounting casualties. Many of the men later complimented her efforts. Eventually, she was placed in charge of a forty-bed room for housing some of the most gravely wounded.
On 29 April 1954, Geneviève de Galard was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Légion d´honneur and the Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
. It was presented to her by the commander of Dien Bien Phu, General de Castries
Christian de Castries
Christian Marie Ferdinand de la Croix de Castries was the French commander at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Castries was born into a distinguished military family and enlisted in the army at the age of 19. He was sent to the Saumur Cavalry School and in 1926 was commissioned an officer but...
. The following day, during the celebration of the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
's annual "Camerone", de Galard was made an honorary Légionnaire de 1ère classe alongside Lieutenant Colonel Marcel Bigeard
Marcel Bigeard
Marcel "Bruno" Bigeard was a French military officer who fought in World War II, Indochina and Algeria. He was one of the commanders in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and is thought by many to have been a dominating influence on French 'unconventional' warfare thinking from that time onwards...
, the commander of the 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion
6th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment
-Indochina:Formed as the 6th Colonial Commando Parachute Battalion in Quimper, Brittany on 16 May 1948 from elements of the 1st Colonial Commando Parachute Demi-brigade, disembarks in Saigon, French Indochina, in July 1949. The battalion distinguished itself in fighting throughout the First...
. After the induction ceremony she told her Foreign Legionnaire sponsor: "If we ever get out of this alive, I'll pay you a bottle of champagne no matter where we meet." In 1963 while driving with her husband in Paris she saw the Legionnaire, got out of her car, embraced him and made good on her promise.
French troops at Dien Bien Phu finally capitulated on 7 May. However, the Vietminh allowed Galard and the medical staff continue to care for their wounded and she worked changing bandages despite short supplies. Galard still refused any kind of cooperation. When some of the Vietminh begun to hoard medical supplies for their own use, she hid some of them under her stretcher bed.
On 24 May, Geneviève de Galard was evacuated to French-held Hanoi, partially against her will. She was the first of the medical staff to leave and quickly became a media sensation, appearing on the cover of Paris Match that week.
As early as May 19, when Galard was still in captivity, U.S. Congresswoman Frances P. Bolton
Frances P. Bolton
Frances Payne Bolton , born Frances P. Bingham, was a Republican politician from Ohio. She served in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first woman elected to Congress from Ohio. She was also the oldest woman to date to serve in the House of Representatives.Born in Cleveland,...
urged United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...
to invite the French nurse to the United States. When she arrived in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in July, she was met at the plane by Mayor Robert Wagner
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.
Robert Ferdinand Wagner II, usually known as Robert F. Wagner, Jr. served three terms as the mayor of New York City, from 1954 through 1965.-Biography:...
and a large crowd. Congresswoman Bolton introduced her as a "symbol of heroic femininity in the free world" and a parade down Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
in her honor was attended by perhaps 250,000 spectators. She was then given a reception at city hall.
Having flown to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on a U.S. Air Force plane, she was recognized before the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. On 29 July 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden
White House Rose Garden
The White House Rose Garden is a garden bordering the Oval Office and the West Wing of the White House. The garden is approximately 125 feet long and 60 feet wide...
, calling her the "woman of the year" She was then sent on a tour of six states where she met with luminaries and appeared before large crowds in cities such as Cleveland, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, New Orleans, and San Francisco. The French ambassador to the United States called her visit "an exceptional success".
Geneviève de Galard lives in Paris with her husband General Jean de Heaulme de Boutsocq.