De Galard, Geneviève (1925–)
De Galard, Geneviève (1925–)
French nurse and heroine. Born Geneviève de Galard-Terraube, April 13, 1925, in Paris, France; dau. of Vicomte Oger de Galard-Terraube (army officer); received baccalaureate degree from a Dominican convent in Toulouse; studied fine arts at École du Louvre, Paris; studied English at the Sorbonne; received state nursing diploma from nurses training school as well as a diploma from Paris School of Social Work; m. paratrooper Captain Jean de Heaulme, May 21, 1957; children: 2.
Hero of the Indo-Chinese war, known as the Angel of Dien Bien Phu, joined the Infirmières Pilotes et Secouristes de L'Air (IPSA), a specially trained corps of airborne pilot-nurses and first-aid workers; began duty in Indochina (1953), as a nurse on a plane that flew into battle zones and brought back wounded French soldiers to Saigon; began flying to Dien Bien Phu in North Vietnam (1954), to evacuate severely wounded soldiers to Hanoi; stranded in Dien Bien Phu, joined the all-male, 30-member medical staff, living and working in extreme conditions and surviving a steady barrage of enemy attacks; risked her life to go out into the fields to attend the long line of wounded. Awarded a Croix de Guerre and the red ribbon of the Legion of Honor (1954); also presented with the Air Medal and the Air Medical Service Silver Medal from France and the US Medal of Freedom.
See also Women in World History.