Genevieve de Galard, a flight nurse for the French Air Force, was the only French woman among some 11,000 defenders at Dien Bien Phu. In her memoir de Galard offers a unique perspective on the siege and fall of the French fortress, providing previously unknown details about the defeat.<BR><BR>De Galard was on the flights that evacuated casualties from the battle, often landing in the midst of Vietminh artillery barrages. After a French air force C-47 with de Galard on board was seriously damaged, she volunteered to stay and tend to the wounded and dying in the field hospital. Although the men of the medical staff were initially apprehensiveùshe was the only woman on the baseùthey eventually made accommodations for her. De Galard did her best in very unsanitary conditions, comforting those near death and trying to boost morale in the face of mounting casualties.<BR><BR>On April 29, 1954, de Galard was awarded the Knight's Cross of the LTgion d'honneur and the Croix de guerre, presented to her by the commander of Dien Bien Phu, General de Castries. The following day, during the celebration of the French Foreign Legion's annual "Camcrone," de Galard was made an honorary "Legionnaire de lFre classe" alongside Lieutenant Colonel Marcel Bigeard, the commander of the 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion. After the French finally capitulated, the Vietminh allowed de Galard and the medical staff to continue to care for their wounded. On May 24 de Galard was evacuated to French-held Hanoi, even though she tried to refuse the order so that she could continue to care for the troops.<BR><BR>For her bravery de Galard, was named the "Angel of Dien Bien Phu" by the American press. She was given a ticker-tape parade up Broadway and a standing ovation in Congress. On July 29, 1954, President Eisenhower awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.<BR><BR>"The Angel of Dien Bien Phu describes another side of that tragic war for Vietnam, climaxed for the French by the fall of Dien Bien Phu. De Galard is the sensitive, caring nurse and woman braving the dangers of constant enemy barrages, comforting those soldiers about to die, keeping up morale in the face of mounting casualties."-Elizabeth P. McIntosh author of Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS