仏看護師「ディエンビエンフーの天使」死去 ９９歳　インドシナ戦争に従軍

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】第１次インドシナ戦争中、当時のフランス領インドシナで従軍看護師として負傷者の治療に尽力し、「ディエンビエンフーの天使」と呼ばれたジュヌビエーブ・ド・ガラールさんが５月３０日、死去した。９９歳。エマニュエル・マクロン大統領は翌３１日、「模範的に献身した」と哀悼の言葉をささげた。（写真は、仏パリの自宅で、自身の特集記事に目を通すジュヌビエーブ・ド・ガラールさん）
　ガラールさんは、１９５４年のディエンビエンフーの戦いに従軍。この戦いでフランスはベトナム独立同盟（ベトミン）に敗北を喫し、植民地のインドシナから撤退した。
　貴族出身で青い目を持つガラールさんは１９５３年、志願して仏領インドシナに赴いた。ディエンビエンフーを引き揚げようとした際、避難用の輸送機の１機が銃撃で破壊され、同地に２か月とどまることになった。
　ガラールさんは負傷者に包帯を巻き、注射を打ち、治療に奔走。腕の中で亡くなった兵士もいた。両腕と片脚を失った兵士から、「この戦争が終わったら、君を踊りに誘うよ」と言われたこともあると後に回想している。
　大統領府はガラールさんについて、「この熱帯の窮地で従軍していた（フランス人）唯一の看護師」だと説明。「この地で１万５０００人の兵士が戦い、命を落とした」としている。
　マクロン氏はＸ（旧ツイッター）に「ディエンビエンフーの天使が私たちの元を去った」と投稿。「従軍看護師として、インドシナ戦争で（フランスにとって）最悪の時期に、１万５０００人の兵士の勇気と苦しみに模範的に献身した」とたたえた。
　仏紙フィガロはガラールさんについて、「仏軍が被った最悪の悲劇の一つの最後の目撃者の一人」だと報じた。
　１９５４年５月、仏軍の拠点が陥落すると、生き残っていた１万２０００人の仏兵は捕虜となった。ガラールさんも１７日間捕虜となっていたが、ベトナム革命の指導者ホー・チ・ミンに釈放され、本国に送還された。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/06/03-17:02）

Genevieve de Galard, a nurse dubbed the Angel of Dien Bien Phu for treating wounded during a defining 1954 battle in then French Indochina, has died aged 99, with President Emmanuel Macron on Friday hailing her exemplary devotion.
Galard was the only French woman on the ground during the clash at Dien Bien Phu, which led to French troops' defeat by communist forces in Vietnam and marked the country's last stand in colonial Indochina. She passed away on Thursday.
The blue-eyed nurse, who hailed from a family of aristocrats, applied field dressings, administered injections and comforted the wounded. Some died in her arms.
Galard volunteered to go to French Indochina in 1953 and helped evacuate casualties.
One of the evacuation planes she travelled in was destroyed by gunfire when she was about to leave Dien Bien Phu.
She remained on the ground for two months, the only nurse in this tropical trap, where 15,000 men were fighting and dying, the president's office said.
When this is over, Genevieve, I will take you dancing, a soldier, who had lost both arms and a leg, told her, Galard would later recall.
French daily Le Figaro said that Galard was certainly one of the last witnesses to one of the worst tragedies suffered by the French army.
The angel of Dien Bien Phu has left us, Macron said on X.
As a military nurse, Genevieve de Galard showed exemplary devotion to the courage and suffering of 15,000 French soldiers during the worst hours of the Indochina war.
Galard told AFP in 2014: The noise of the bombings was infernal and, when there was a lull in the morning, we knew that other stretchers were going to arrive.
When the French-held garrison fell in May 1954, the 12,000 surviving French soldiers were taken prisoner.
Galard herself was held prisoner for 17 days and was repatriated to France after being granted freedom by president Ho Chi Minh.
- 'Supreme fortitude' -
On her return she was celebrated as a star and French magazine Paris Match featured the 29-year-old on its cover.
I had never wanted or sought it, she said of her fame. I had only done my duty.
In July 1954, US President Dwight Eisenhower invited her to the United States where she was awarded the US Medal of Freedom and received a standing ovation from the House of Representatives.
Her supreme fortitude in hours of peril, her unfaltering dedication to her mission reflected the greatness of spirit manifested on many fields, in many centuries, by the soldiers of France, Eisenhower said.
Throughout her life, Galard continued to care for the disabled, in particular at the Invalides rehabilitation centre, Macron's office said.
The English translation of her memoir, The Angel of Dien Bien Phu, was published in 2010.
In 2014, Galard received France's highest honour, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.
Eric Ciotti, head of the right-wing Republicans party, took to X to hail a French heroine.
In inhuman sanitary conditions and a deluge of bombs, she saved so many French soldiers, he wrote.
This year, France has for the first time been invited by Vietnam to commemorate the battle. Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu represented Paris at commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu in May.