Educated in the Ecole Normale in Nimes, Elisabeth was planning to become a teacher but at the outbreak of WW1, she trained as a nurse instead, with the la Société de Secours des Blessés Militaires in Nîmes. In 1916 Elisabeth volunteered to serve closer to the fighting and went to look after the wounded on the Somme, on the Marne, the Meuse and in Italy.
In 1918 Elizabeth was sent to Pierrefonds in the Oise, where the Red Cross had set up a field hospital. There she met a military doctor and they became engaged. On the night of 20th August 1918, the Germans began to bomb the area. While her colleagues took shelter, Elisabeth refused to leave her post and her patients. She was killed by a shell splinter while she was giving a soldier an injection.
Elisabeth’s bravery was acknowledged with the posthumous awarding of the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d’Honneur. When the war memorial was unveiled in Nimes in 1924, Elisabeth’s name was among the 1,312 men from Nimes who died for France during the First World War. Her body, which had initially been buried in the civilian cemetery at Pierrefonds, was transferred to the Military Cemetery and a memorial was erected on the place where she died.
Sources:
https://www.objectifgard.com/2018/11/11/fait-du-jour-elisabeth-jalaguier-lheroine-nimoise-de-la-guerre-14-18/
http://anecdotes-gardoises.over-blog.com/2018/12/elisabeth-jalaguier-morte-pour-la-france.html
https://le-souvenir-francais.fr/la-quatrieme-armee/
