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   HebrideanHecate (hebrideanhecate@spinster.xyz)'s status on Wednesday, 29-Jan-2025 08:41:18 JST HebrideanHecate

   https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/general-valerie-andre-obituary-pioneering-french-military-leader-x2k7nqrnj

   General Valérie André obituary: pioneering French military leader Helicopter pilot and neurosurgeon who flew under fire into the jungle in Indochina to tend to the wounded and later became the first female general

   A keen flyer since her teens, André completed her medical training in Paris in 1948 before entering the army medical service and volunteering to serve in Indochina with paratrooper units. She was assigned to the My Tho hospital before transferring to Saigon to work as an assistant neurosurgeon at the Coste Military Hospital, where she sometimes performed more than 100 procedures a month. She also made dozens of parachute jumps, reaching injured troops in the most isolated jungle. But she grew frustrated at not being able to attend more quickly to casualties, many of whom had to be moved by truck across miles of almost nonexistent roads to reach an airstrip and a fixed-wing aircraft, a journey often at risk of ambush. At times the ground transport was more than a casualty could bear, and many died en route. Early in 1950, André observed a demonstration of a Hiller Model 360 helicopter that had been configured as an air ambulance, with two externally rigged stretchers. Realising that she could perform her job better by piloting a helicopter into the jungle, she “besieged my superior” to be allowed to return to France to train as a military helicopter pilot. “I had medical training to stabilise the wounded. And I weighed less than 45kg [99lb], which meant we could even carry an extra wounded man if necessary,” she said.

   https://archive.ph/QlaJt