Description

Valrie Andr was born in Strasbourg France in 1922 From an early age she wanted to fly but as a woman she faced challenges While boys could receive governmentfunded flight lessons Andr had to pay for hers by tutoring During World War II she left Strasbourg against German prohibitions in order to study medicine in Paris where she completed her studies under threat of arrest by the Gestapo Assigned to an army hospital in Saigon in French Indochina in the late 1940s Andr trained as a neurosurgeon When the French medical corps developed mobile surgical units to be airdropped into military outposts she volunteered and when the service acquired a few primitive helicopters she volunteered for that which meant learning to fly helicopters in combat Flying through bullets and bombs fatigue parasitic illness and mechanical issues with the helicopters Andr nonetheless became a legend in Indochina

After Indochina she continued to be an innovator in military aviation and medicine as well as an advocate for womens integration into the French military In 1975 she became the first female general in the French army and at her retirement she had flown nearly 500 combat missions logged 4000 hours in helicopters and won the Croix de Guerre five times the Cross of Military Valor twice and the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit