Geneviève de GALARD, who originated from Clovis, and whose ancestor was the companion of Joan of Arc (GALARD’s Crossbowmen), was born in 1925.
In 1953, she joined the Indochina war which soon got to its climax. After undertaking several missions, she was blocked in the valley of Dien Bien Phu when the aircraft that brought her to evacuate the wounded was damaged by gunshots.
The hell of Dien Bien Phu
Aged 29, she lived the last battles, the surrender and occupation of positions by the bo-doïs on 7 May 1954. Assisted by some twenty Vietnamese prostitutes who became auxiliary nurses, she helped all the wounded for three weeks from her pockets. She was captured by the Viet-Minh on 7 May 1954. Freed on 11 May, she was received as a hero in France and then in the United States.
The commendation accompanying the Legion of Honour and the Cross of War awarded to her at the end of April 1954 by General De Castries who commanded the entrenched camp, read: “With her silent courage and complete devotedness, she earned everyone’s admiration”.