[2] André started as a Medical Captain in Indochina in 1948, already a qualified parachutist and pilot, in addition to being an army surgeon.

[5][6] One typical mission occurred on 11 December 1951, when casualties were in urgent need of evacuation from Tu Vu on the Black River.

There, she triaged the casualties, operated on the most pressing cases and then flew the urgent wounded back to Hanoi, two at a time.

André is one of eight women to hold the Grand-croix (Great Cross) rank in the Legion of Honour, with Germaine Tillion, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Jacqueline de Romilly, Simone Rozès, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Yvette Farnoux and Gilberte Champion.

[7][8] Helicopter Heroine: Valérie André―Surgeon, Pioneer Rescue Pilot, and Her Courage Under Fire, by Charles Morgan Evans, Stackpole Books, 2023 (ISBN: 978-0811771924) Colonel Alexis Santini et Général Valérie André: épopée de deux pionniers, un couple hors-normes, par Martine Gay, OFFICINE, 2023, (ISBN: 978-2355513657)