J'ETAIS MEDECIN A DIEN BIEN PHU

Paris: Editions France-Empire, 1954. Book. Very Good +. Soft cover. Signed by Author(s). 1st Edition.. A rare first edition signed by the author Paul-Henri Grauwin, a medical doctor who served with the French Army, most notably commanding the "Mobile Surgical Unit" during the prolonged Battle of Dien Bien Phu, after which he was taken prisoner and briefly held captive by the Viet Minh. This copy is also signed by Geneviève de Galard, 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. and Madame Georges Bidault, wife of Georges-Augustin Bidault, foreign minister and prime minister of France on several occasions. Madame Bidault signs as a representative of the Bureau de Liaison des Prisonniers de Guerre D'Indochine. Laid in is an invitation to hear Medecin-Commandant GRAUWIN speak and sign his book on Nov. 12, 1954. Also laid in is a TLS, in French, from Madame Bidault to a Madame Constant apologizing for the loss of a signed copy of the book, with an offer to send her own copy as a replacement. An ALS from Madame Constant in reply is also laid in. A wonderful association copy of a fragile book in the original glassine. This is an important eye witness account of a terrible French military tragedy that preceded America's Vietnam War..