Paul-Henri Grauwin (1914–1989) was a

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

who served with the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

. He most notably commanding the "Mobile Surgical Unit" during the prolonged

Battle of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the Fr ...

, after which he was taken prisoner and briefly held captive by the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

. Of

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

background, Grauwin served as a surgeon during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the course of the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

, the French had established a base at Dien Bien Phu in late 1953. Grauwin, holding the rank of major, arrived in February 1954 to take charge of the 42-bed hospital unit there, conducting triage for evacuation and operating when necessary. After the Viet Minh siege began in early March, Grauwin was kept busy with large numbers of casualties that flooded his surgical bunker. While the airstrip at the base was still in use, he evacuated many of the injured back to

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

. Grauwin soon found his facilities overwhelmed with casualties who had to be put in the halls. In one night, he and another surgeon

amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indivi ...

twenty-three limbs, plastered fifteen fractures, and repaired numerous other wounds: ten abdominal, ten chest, and two

cranial Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

. At other times, shelling killed those waiting for medical attention. By the end of March Grauwin's hospital consisted of six shelters with 250 beds. Supplies dropped from the air included the contents of a United States

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...

with pyjamas, sheets, beds and vials of

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

. He also received two new aides: Private Fleury and

Geneviève de Galard Geneviève de Galard (born 13 April 1925) is a French nurse who was dubbed ''l'ange de Dien Bien Phu'' ("the Angel of Dien Bien Phu") during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Genevièv ...

In the last week of April, with the airstrip no longer usable, Grauwin's hospital contained more than one thousand wounded, and he had begun using some of the women from the base's

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

s as medical orderlies. By the end of the battle in May, Grauwin had more than 1,300 wounded in the makeshift wards of his hospital, and deprived by the shelling of electricity, was forced to operate by candlelight. With the fall of the base on 7 May, he was taken into captivity by the Viet Minh. Grauwin remained in captivity until 1 June, when he and other French medical officers were exchanged for several hundred Vietnamese prisoners. In 1954, Grauwin published a memoir entitled ''J'étais médecin à Diên Biên Phu'', which was translated into English in 1955 with the title ''Doctor at Dien Bien Phu''.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grauwin, Paul-Henri 1914 births 1989 deaths French physicians French people of Flemish descent French military personnel of the First Indochina War Prisoners of war held by Vietnam