An important innovator in battlefield medicine and triage, Larrey invented the flying ambulance and is sometimes considered the first modern military surgeon.

In 1787 he boarded a ship deployed to the defense of Newfoundland, and was, at nearly 21 years-old at the time, the youngest medical officer in the French Royal Navy.

[1] In 1789, Larrey was back in Paris, where he worked with Jean-Nicolas Corvisart, Xavier Bichat and Raphaël Bienvenu Sabatier in Les Invalides.

After seeing the speed with which the carriages of French horse artillery units maneuvered across the battlefields, Larrey adapted them as "flying ambulances"[3][4] for rapid transport of the wounded and manned them with trained crews of drivers, corpsmen and litterbearers.

He established a rule for the triage of war casualties, treating the wounded according to the seriousness of their injuries and urgency of need for medical care, regardless of their rank or nationality.

In Spain he fell ill and was sent back to Paris, where he worked as a professor of anatomy at the Val-de-Grâce Medical School for a short time, in 1796,[1] before being appointed surgeon-in-chief of the Revolutionary armies in Italy at the request of Napoleon who had heard of his distinguished reputation and remembered him from Toulon.

When the French army was disembarking west of Alexandria, General Caffarelli got his wooden leg caught in the rigging and fell overboard.

Shortly before the start of Napoleon's invasion of Syria, Larrey noticed a group of British prisoners being held in deplorable conditions and asked Dupas to improve their treatment, but he refused.

He had been one of the privileged few offered the chance to return alongside Napoleon earlier but politely declined, saying that he would accompany him if ordered but would prefer to remain with the army who needed him more.

He had long been the favorite of the Emperor, who commented, "If the army ever erects a monument to express its gratitude, it should do so in honor of Larrey", he was ennobled as a Baron on the field of Wagram in 1809.

Larrey was made head of all medical operations of the Grande Armée in the French invasion of Russia and performed wonders at Borodino where he worked himself to near exaustion due to the scale of the casualties.

Larrey was surprised by the reactions of the men but his selfless devotion to the well being of the sick and wounded soldiers had long become the stuff of legend by 1812 and they were going to return the favor by saving him.

He attempted to escape to the French border once he had regained consciousness but was taken prisoner by the Prussians who bandaged his wound but wanted to execute him on the spot.

Blücher treated him with respect and sent word to his wife that Larrey was alive, as the French had initially thought he had been killed on the field of Waterloo.

After the empire, Larrey's illustrious reputation ensured he was given multiple opportunities abroad, including those from the United States, Russia, and Brazil.

He devoted the remainder of his life to writing , but after the death of Napoleon he started a new medical career in the army as chief-surgeon in the royal guard of Louis XVIII.

The new French king, Louis Philippe I, made him a consultant surgeon and medical director at Les Invalides, a retirement home for aged and disabled soldiers.

When Napoleon's remains were returned to France in 1840, Larrey insisted on braving the cold to pay his respects as the emperor's funeral procession passed through the streets of Paris.