Valérie André

Valérie André
File:ValerieA.jpg
Born	April 21, 1922 Strasbourg, France
Allegiance	Frankreich
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1948 - 1981
Rank	Médecin Général Inspecteur
Commands	3rd Force Service Support Group, III MEF Marine Corps Systems Command at Marine Corps Base Quantico
Awards	Légion d'honneur ordre national du Mérite Croix de guerre 1939-1945 Croix de guerre T.O.E Croix de la Valeur Militaire Médaille commémorative d’Indochine Médaille de l'Aéronautique Croix du Combattant Volontaire Médaille de Vermeil du service de santé

Valerie Andre, born on April 21, 1922 in Strasbourg) is a veteran of the French resistance, a neurosurgeon, an aviator and the first female member of the military to achieve the rank of General Officer, in 1976, as Physician General. In 1981, she was promoted to Inspector General of Medicine. A helicopter pilot, she is the first woman to have piloted a helicopter in a combat zone. She is also a founding member of l’Académie nationale de l'air et de l'espace.

As a member of the military, she is not addressed as "Madame la Générale" (a term reserved for spouses of generals) but as "General".

She started as a Medical Captain in Indochina in 1948, where she completed 129 war missions. While in Indochina, she realized that the most difficult part of her duties was retrieving the wounded, who were often trapped in the jungle. She returned to France to learn how to pilot a helicopter, then flew one to Indochina. She piloted 129 helicopter missions into the jungle and rescued 150 soldiers, and on two occasions completed parachute jumps to treat wounded soldiers who needed immediate surgery.

File:Valerie-andre2.jpg

André piloting a helicopter, and performing surgical work, in combat during the French War in Indochina.

She continued in Algeria as a Medical Commander in 1960, where she completed 365 war missions. She rose to the rank of Medical Lieutenant Colonel in 1965 then to Medical Colonel in 1970. She had a total of 3200 flight hours, and received 7 citations of the croix de guerre.

She has written two collections of memoirs : Ici, Ventilateur! Extraits d'un carnet de vol. (Calmann-Lévy, 1954) and Madame le général (Perrin, 1988).

She is one of eight women to hold the Grand-croix (Great Cross) rank in the Legion of Honour, with Germaine Tillion, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz , Jacqueline de Romilly, Simone Rozès, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Yvette Farnoux et Gilberte Champion. She is the aunt of politician André Santini.

Decorations

French

• Grand-croix of the Legion of Honour (19 December, 1999); previously Chevalier on 25February, 1953
• Grand-croix of the Ordre National du Mérite in 1987, the first woman to receive this distinction.
• Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with 7 citations.
• Croix de guerre des Théâtres d'opérations extérieures
• Médaille de la Valeur Militaire
• Médaille commémorative d’Indochine,
• Médaille de l'Aéronautique
• Médaille du Combattant Volontaire (1944),
• Médaille de Vermeil du service de santé.
• Grande Médaille d'or du l'Aéro-club de France

Foreign decorations

• Legion of Merit (USA),
• National Order of Vietnam
• Cross of Valour (Vietnam)

External links

• A brief article on the Website of l'INA
• A brief profile on the French Ministry of Defense Website