The only French nurse in Dien Bien Phu and the painting of President Ho Chi Minh

The front page of Paris Match magazine published a picture of the released flight nurse Geneviève de Galard, returning from the Dien Bien Phu campaign.

During the Dien Bien Phu campaign in 1945, Ms. Geneviève de Galard was the only female air transport nurse of the French Expeditionary Army present at that historic 56-day and night battle.

70 years later, a VNA reporter had the opportunity to meet the woman on the other side, a person who was once built up and praised by the US as the "Angel of Dien Bien Phu," but has become a symbol of anti-war and humanitarianism.

The small room in the Toulouse Nursing Home in the south of France, where Geneviève de Galard and her husband Jean de Heaulme live, is as simple as any other. On top of the cupboard, family photos taken nearly a century ago are placed respectfully, along with a small statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva, helping them live with their old memories. At the age of 100, they are the last of the generation that was present in Indochina and Dien Bien Phu still alive today.

Notably, one of the souvenirs that the couple brought back from Vietnam and is still kept by the family is a wooden painting of President Ho Chi Minh, a symbol of the world's national liberation movement.

Mr. Francois de Heaulme, the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Jean and Geneviève de Heaulme, said: "By chance, I found this woodcut in my father's storage cabinet during his time in the army. The photo he clearly stated was found in an illegal printing workshop in Hanoi , during a search on December 19, 1946 (the day the French colonialists returned to invade Vietnam - NV)."

Francois de Heaulme, the eldest son of Jean and Geneviève de Heaulme, talks about the woodblock print of President Ho Chi Minh that he found among the Vietnam-related memorabilia that his parents still kept. (Photo: Nguyen Thu Ha/VNA)

Painting of President Ho Chi Minh.

On the sofa in the corner of the room, 99-year-old Geneviève de Galard was lying down, her eyes closed, quietly, despite the guests' chatter. Her thin white hair and face with many wrinkles from time still exuded a kind, peaceful look.

Mr. Jean de Heaulme, although he had to sit in a wheelchair and his voice was no longer coherent, was still very mentally alert and happily talked to us. When we showed him pictures of Hanoi, where he was born exactly 100 years ago, Mr. Jean still remembered the Long Bien Bridge on the Red River, and Hoan Kiem Lake where the Turtle Tower is located.

Turning the pages of his wife's memoirs about the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, Mr. Jean de Heaulme told us about her memorable moments when she took care of wounded soldiers in the front line, the day President Ho Chi Minh signed the order to release her, the moment they first met in Hanoi, when she returned to France amid the joy of friends and family, the happy moments of the couple on their wedding day, the joy of welcoming the birth of their first son... and the day the couple visited Vietnam again.

With all his love and pride, he passionately talked about the woman he had been with for nearly 70 years. Pointing to a photo of her when she was young and old Geneviève de Galard lying on the sofa, he humorously but affectionately compared: "My wife was much more beautiful then than now!!!"

Descended from one of France's most prestigious families, Geneviève de Galard dreamed of adventure and loved taking care of people from a young age. In her memoirs, she expressed "a desire to help others and a vow to do so throughout my life."

Her childhood dream came true when she was recruited as a medic in the Air Force. Sent to the Indochina battlefield at the age of 29, Geneviève participated in many missions transporting and caring for wounded soldiers by military aircraft.

Some documentary photos of Mrs. Geneviève de Galard at the time of her return from Dien Bien Phu.

Notably, during the 56 days and nights of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, where fierce confrontations took place between the French expeditionary force and the Viet Minh forces, Ms. Geneviève participated in several emergency flights to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

On March 28, the Dakota plane carrying her to Dien Bien Phu to pick up wounded soldiers broke down and could not take off, leaving her stranded in Dien Bien Phu. At that time, Ms. Geneviève de Galard was the only French woman in the Dien Bien basin, as the other nurses had been evacuated as soon as the war began.

On May 24, 1954, President Ho Chi Minh signed an order to release Ms. Geneviève de Galard. As the only woman among the French prisoners of war returning from the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, she was welcomed by dozens of international photographers and journalists immediately after landing at Bach Mai Airport in Hanoi.

Back in France in early June, she was greeted by a large crowd at Orly airport and graced the front page of Paris Match. The interviews and the Paris Match cover made Geneviève de Galard a reluctant icon of heroic youth, despite the fact that it was not what she wanted, even as the American and French governments awarded her their most prestigious medals.

She continued working as an air ambulance nurse for a few years, then worked at the Invalides Rehabilitation Centre for the seriously injured. She married Captain Jean de Heaulme, whom she had met in Indochina, and they had three children.

At the age of 80, Ms. Geneviève de Galard released her autobiography "Une femme à Diên Biên Phu" (tentatively translated as "A woman in Dien Bien Phu"), published by Les Arènes, recounting her life and fate during that earth-shaking campaign. This memoir was evaluated by the French press as helping generations of the public "better understand a tragic page in French history."

After 70 years, there are not many witnesses of the Dien Bien Phu campaign in France left, and they will be remembered as the ones who kept valuable historical lessons for France./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nu-y-ta-phap-duy-nhat-o-dien-bien-phu-va-buc-tranh-in-hinh-chu-tich-ho-chi-minh-post943705.vnp

Source