Reading Reno: Local author writes biography of French helicopter pilot and surgeon, General Valérie André

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - March is International Women’s History Month and one Reno-based writer is sharing his book about a French woman who served as a surgeon and rescue pilot during the French-Indochina War.

Charles Morgan Evans stopped by Morning Break to promote his book, Helicopter Heroine: Valérie André—Surgeon, Pioneer Rescue Pilot, and Her Courage Under Fire, and share the remarkable true story of one woman’s experience during combat.

During WWII, Valérie André studied medicine while France was occupied by the Nazis. She was from Strasbourg where the Germans forbid anyone from leaving. But she did anyway. The university she attended in Claremont Ferrand was raided by the Gestapo in 1943. She narrowly managed to escape arrest and had to live underground while attending the University of Paris until the city’s liberation in the summer of 1944.

Then in 1947, Valérie André volunteered as a doctor for the French Army, but her true passion was aviation.

When the first helicopters were introduced in Vietnam in 1950 to serve as aerial ambulances, André volunteered for the new service. She flew 128 missions into the most dangerous combat zones on earth, saving 168 men from 1951-1953. She later served in Algeria, and was the first woman promoted to the rank of general in the French Army in 1976.

André championed the cause of gender equality in the French military medical corps (Service de Sante) during the 1970s and 1980s. Today, there are more women than men serving in the French military medical corps, and a large part of that is thanks to André’s push for equality.

Evans has known General André for over 20 years. He was the founding curator of the Hiller Aviation Museum in Northern California, which is where he first learned André’s story.

Valerie André is still alive and celebrated her 100th birthday in 2022. This April the war hero will turn 101 years old.

If you’d like to learn more, there’s a YouTube video dedicated to one of General André’s rescues.

Helicopter Heroine can be purchased online or from several local bookstores. Evans will be at Barnes & Noble Bookstore (5555 S Virginia St, Reno) Saturday, March 25 from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. to meet readers and sign copies of his book.

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