751G.00/5–1154: Telegram
The Chargé at Saigon (McClintock) to the Department of State
niact
2342. Sent Geneva niact 86; repeated information Paris 815, London 55, Tokyo 96. De Jean tells me, re Secto 164 repeated Paris 236, Saigon 55, London 148, Tokyo 43 [42],1 that General Navarre has sought by direct radio message to Giap and by parachute letter dropped on Red Cross tent at Dien Bien Phu to indicate his immediate readiness to evacuate wounded.2 De Jean has likewise telegraphed French delegation Geneva so to inform Viet Minh delegation.
Although French do not have many helicopters in area, they are getting together such machines as are available and plan to land with first party professor of faculty of medicine, Hanoi University, who personally knows General Giap and speaks Vietnamese. French helicopters will commence immediate evacuation most seriously wounded irrespective of whether French or Vietnamese. Less urgent cases will have to await C–47 evacuation after reconstruction of airstrip.
- Dated May 10, p. 757.↩
- For documentation on the wounded at Dien Bien Phu, see volume xiii.↩